Beautiful Chaos
by Lokiko
Summary: Welcome to the world in which adventures are more trouble than they're worth. Follow the adventures of Matt, Adria, and many others as they get themselves into and out of trouble with Team Rocket, unstoppable psychopaths, and other insatiable dangers. Warning: Story contains OCs, violence, and swearing.
1. Commence Total Destruction

**Authors Note:**

**Hello and welcome to the transcription of a role play my good friend and I are writing. In truth, this role play is actually quite old and we have decided to restart it from the beginning. In an attempt to keep our transcription organized and keep ourselves motivated to paste the emails into a word document for safe keeping, we have chosen to post it up here on Fanfiction. It is also being made available for anyone we've told about it that has then wanted to read it. **

**As a forewarning, there will be cursing and violence in later chapters. As we get to them, the rating will likely change. There will likely be mentions of sexual relations and other more adult themes, but we will not be posting them explicitly in this story. Also, the original characters of the manga/anime/games will not appear as main characters in this story. They may be mentioned, for this role play takes place in the same general universe, and they may make brief cameos somewhere along the line, but this is strictly OCs. I understand that it may irritate many of you and that is alright. This is for our benefit and is only being posted here in case someone else may take an interest.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines. **

**So please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 1:** Commence Total Destruction

It was about in the late spring just south of Cerulean city when trouble stirred up. Far into the forest off the beaten dirt path was a single facility tucked away in a small clearing, away from prying eyes and away from the city. Far away. One would need to know its location or deliberately look for the dull, metal building. It was all too suspicious being there, especially when men and women were pacing outside the facility in black clothing and caps with a large red 'R' printed on the front of their shirts.

Team Rocket. They were and always would be trouble makers and pests for the trainers roaming nearby. In fact there was already one trainer who wanted to seek her revenge on them. She wasn't just doing it because they'd stolen her Pokémon. Out of the six she had only one remained, but they had taken the 6th Pokéball he'd once been in. But this teal-haired young 14-year old girl had other motives for approaching the facility. With her handiwork and her Pokémon jabbing at their stomachs a few times, the two guards who were supposed to be posted outside were no longer walking about, but instead were tucked away in the bushes, one's arm hanging out only slightly while the other had been stripped down to nothing but boxers.

The Rockets were trouble, even if some of their thugs weren't very smart. The Admins and the higher-ups of the organization were smarter and stronger than their lackeys; those were the Rocket members that a body needed to watch out for. Thankfully, none of them were loitering around this particular base today because not just one person had slipped in to recover lost companions. A red-headed young man had also slipped inside the base. He had been left with two Pokémon, rather than just one, but it was still unacceptable. His friend had been taken from him, and he would not stand such an injustice. While he happened to be sneaking around, he decided that he might as well pick up the other Pokémon that had been stolen and stashed here because then he had a shot at returning them to their proper owners. It wouldn't be right if he just left them all here to rot and only retrieved his own Pokémon.

The Furret at his side continually darted around corners and through cracked doors to figure out where they were going before scurrying back to the young man and leading him along. It hadn't been much trouble to get into the base. The guards had already been dealt with outside, apparently, and that suited Matt just fine. He was here for a purpose and whoever had gotten to the guards first had simply made his job easier. Now it was just a matter of sneaking around _inside_ the base and avoiding any patrolling guards or wandering Rockets. It shouldn't be too terribly hard, but Matt knew better than to just blow something like that off. With his luck, he'd probably end up turning a corner and running straight into a Rocket.

Tip-toeing about was difficult without making it look suspicious. Her hair style would likely draw attention, two pigtails of teal hair, but she would have to risk it and hope that saying 'I'm new' was enough to convince the Rockets that wandered about. She too was looking for the missing Pokémon and had planned to make the base skyrocket a bit later after pulling the fire alarm.

"Dart," she whispered to the small croaking black and blue Croagunk waddling after her. "Is there anyone around the corner?" She asked.

The black and blue frog croaked deeply, its cheeks puffing up with each I take of breath. He peered around the corner, but nothing caught his attention. "You're sure," the trainer mouthed. The frog just looked at her strangely like he always did when she questioned his analytical skills. The girl grew a bit annoyed at her frog Pokémon and turned the corner quickly only after a few seconds of losing the staring contest, right into the male red-head. "Oof!"

Simultaneously, the red-headed young man had slipped out from an adjacent room he had been searching. In all honesty, he had no idea where the Rockets stored their stolen Pokémon, which was why he had sent one of his most trusted Pokémon ahead to look for it and report back to him when he found it. There had been no word from him, yet, so Matt could only hope that he was alright and would return to him soon.

The moment the girl bumped into him, the Furret, Shida, had reacted. As Matt stumbled backwards with a small exclamation of surprise, Shida shot forward with a hiss. Obviously, she was protective of the trainer that she loved so much. With Matt having his Pokémon stolen, she was even more protective of him than before. All of her fur had puffed up so she looked larger and more threatening, though it made her look a little like a fluff ball. Despite that, it was clear that she was still dangerous from the way she was baring her teeth. If it was a Rocket they had just run into, she was the last line of defense do that Matt have to fight one-on-one with someone.

The girl stumbled backwards from the ferret Pokémon, her base instincts and thoughts clouding her judgment. This person, whoever it was, had a Pokémon out. She looked threatening and clearly ready to fight. Had she been caught by a grunt? Maybe an admin who didn't recognize her and saw through the costume? Maybe they didn't like people running into them! Without taking a brief moment to look over the person's appearance and noting the absence of the black and red clothing, the young girl simply had her Pokémon attack.

And that wasn't exactly what Dart had done. Darteng had jumped out and between his trainer and the other Pokémon the moment she sprung, croaking his name loudly in protest. But instead of listening to his trainer, who had skipped looking over the boy and his Pokémon to see who they were, he merely croaked in place, staring at the ferret and making no attempt to attack. He could see this person wasn't a threat unless he thought the girl really was a rocket. He croaked at Shida, staring at her, trying to pass his message. They were just infiltrating and looking for stolen Pokémon.

Shida wasn't hard to reason with, really; it had only been surprise that had gotten her to react so quickly. She'd been worried about her trainer, since the rest of his Pokémon were missing, and hadn't wanted anyone attacking or hurting him. Immediately after Darteng stepped up to try and reason with her, she relaxed and stood up on her hind feet. With her front paws, she began smoothing down her ruffled fur, chattering at the opposing Pokémon in the friendly matter. They were looking for stolen Pokémon, too. Nasty Rockets had gotten Matt's friends and now they needed to get them all back.

Matt, in question, was just staring at the girl and the Pokémon that were exchanging words and not blows. At least it hadn't come down to a fight, he guessed. He'd been terribly surprised when she practically leaped out and ran straight into him, but it didn't seem like any of them were going to come to blows over it. That was good, at the very least. The last thing they could afford, right now, was to get into a battle.

A cold draft materialized behind the girl that had so surprised Matt. A pair of eyes opened to watch her curiously, bobbing back and forth to get a better look. She didn't seem to be much of a threat, so the presence wasn't inclined to do much of anything. They would get this little misunderstanding worked out and then continue to move on.

Darteng croaked in return. The annoying Rockets had stolen his trainers Pokémon and his Pokéball. There was no longer any doubt that there were other missing Pokémon here as well. She had only come to take back what was hers, the other stolen Pokémon, prove something to someone, and track down the trainers of any missing Pokémon.

The girl was only slightly baffled to see the lack of attacks, but then it allowed her to take a good look at the trainer; no uniform. Of course. It seemed like this young man was infiltrating, but wasn't disguised. Of course she was, which also made sense that the misunderstanding had been so easily dispelled because Darteng actually took the time to look at who he was fighting.

The pigtailed-girl opened her mouth to say something to Matt, but noted a sudden draft of cold air. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Turning around, a squeal escaped her almost composed self and she jumped away to her left. At this, Dart whirled around to see who just about gave his trainer a heart attack, ready should it be a Rocket and a fight that would unfold.

Matt's head shot up at the sound of the squeal and he glared in the direction of the disembodied eyes. "Ender!" He exclaimed, though tried to keep his voice down. The eyes crinkled slightly, as if whatever being possessed them was smiling, and disappeared. A soft cackle was the first reply Matt got to his exclamation.

The Pokémon that had caused the small stir appeared by his trainer's side, disembodied arms rising up as if he was shrugging his shoulders. "I just heard the commotion and tried to figure out who was scaring my fragile little trainer." He teasing, circling once around Matt before turning his attention to the girl he had startled. "Forgive me, but when you're wandering around in a Rocket uniform, that means you're fair game." The Haunter grinned at the startled girl, his jagged mouth turning upwards in what should have been a charming smile.

Shida had also been startled by the shriek and had darted back to Matt to climb up his leg, around his back and then onto his shoulders. She watched the proceedings with interest from there, still slightly fluffed up from her first encounter with the girl and her Croagunk.

The girl didn't know what startled her most: the sudden appearance of the Haunter or the fact that it was speaking perfect Japanese. Darteng, though, seemed perfectly amused, croaking his laughter at his trainer and saying something along the lines of 'no haunted mansions for you in the future'. Of course, the girl understood only the frog's laughter.

"F-fair enough," she cleared her throat and regained her composure yet again. "I'll give you that." Terribly annoyed, though, she turned and glanced around. No doubt someone else would have heard the shriek. There were footsteps down the hall, hurrying over. It sounded like several people. Darteng tugged on his trainers pant leg and pointed to a storage room they'd just found before running into the other person. "There are people coming." She whispered to Matt, Shida and Ender. "Over here," the girl gestured, opening the door to the storage room. She wanted to avoid conflict if possible.

Matt glanced at Ender, who nodded his approval at the idea. They needed to get out of the hallway before someone caught them loitering around. They would get in some serious trouble if they just kept standing around here, so Matt followed the girl into the storage room that she had indicated. With both of them lacking their full team of Pokémon, they were at a severe disadvantage against any Rocket that managed to catch them, so it was better to avoid Rockets if at all possible. Matt liked that plan.

Once inside the storage room, Matt shut the door quietly and pointed to his Haunter companion. "Keep me posted on what's going on outside." His voice was nothing more than a whisper, but Ender nodded and saluted. "Righto!" Without another word, Ender disappeared; presumably, he was out in the hallway to watch out for whoever was coming. Shida had remained on Matt's shoulder and was curiously examining the room they had just been shuffled into.

The girl fell silent as a few voices filtered through the door. Meanwhile, she took out a pen and small notebook, flipping the page she was using to draw a map on over and scribbled something down on it. 'I take it you're stalking around here because your Pokémon were stolen by these damn grunts. Mine were too. Sorry for giving you a start. No one was there when Dart looked out.'

Outside in the hallway the grunts had stopped. "I could have sworn I heard something! Like a shriek or something. It sounded girlish, I swear!" Although there was nothing there that he could see. Had they fled or was he just hearing things?

Matt looked back at his unsuspected companion and nodded in response to her question. 'Yeah. I had Ender looking around for where they keep the stolen Pokémon. He came back, so he might know about where they are.' After the grunts left, they could talk more about where the grunts had stashed their stolen Pokémon.

"You must be hearing things, man. You're probably just tired. Pulled any double shifts lately?" The second voice sounded tired and resigned, but not irritable. However, the second grunt didn't seem to believe his companion about the 'shriek' he had heard. The second grunt had heard no such thing from this direction, but it might have been because he hadn't really been paying attention.

"Yeah, I kind of have been," the first grunt responded. "Now that spring is here, everyone's got allergies or getting over the flu." He yawned. "Not enough people to take over I guess. But at least it's double pay if we double-shift, so I guess it's not all that bad. I dunno, maybe it was someone blaring their television in the rec room or whatever." He shuffled a bit. "Let's go get some lunch. And maybe coffee." He offered. "It's my break time now. You up for a bite?" Now that he mentioned it, Darteng was a bit hungry as well. No doubt his trainer was, too.

"I hear ya', man. Let's clock out and get a bite to eat. It'll be nice to take a break and relax a little." The voices were receding now and the footsteps grew softer until they were gone. The two patrolling grunts had left the area.

Matt breathed a small breath of relief now that they were gone. Ender reappeared next to the two trainers to confirm it. "They're gone. Now, let's get the stolen Pokémon and get out of here." The Haunter disappeared through the door and waited patiently in the hallway where the grunts had been standing only moments ago. Matt wasted no time in vacating the store room and joining his companion in the hallway.

Darteng quickly followed after the boy he didn't know while his trainer followed after him. "So you know where the stolen Pokémon are?" she asked the ghost Pokémon that could somehow talk, which was not only magnificent but rather strange, it quite awesome in her opinion. In Darteng's opinion... well, he didn't really care. Sure, speaking perfect Japanese was one thing, but Darteng really wasn't much of a talker as he was a mocker, laid back and continually sassy to his trainer. "And there's more than just the ones... er..." she didn't know the red-head kids' name. "More than the ones you're missing?"

Introductions could wait until later, when they were all out of this mess and not in constant danger of being caught. For now, neither of the trainers knew each other's name, and that would have to do for now.

Ender puffed up slightly in mock pride, grinning widely. "'Course I do. I can go through walls; it's easy to find things if you can go through walls. The hard part is figuring out how to get back there without going through walls." Humans couldn't go through walls; Ender had learned that very early on. It sometimes made things difficult, but he wasn't above a little challenge. "And yes, it's a storage room for all the Pokémon that have been stolen, I think." Of course, the only Pokémon that were there were the ones that hadn't already been re-purposed for whatever the Rockets needed.

"Think?" She raised her eyebrow, and then frowned. She could only hope that this Pokémon was correct and that their Pokémon were there. The last thing she needed was for her Pokémon to not be there, but rather somewhere else or being used for whatever damn purpose they were stolen for. She wanted to get them back before anything happened to them, and then blow this place into the air. "Lead the way?" she asked. "You went through the walls, though. Do you know the route we can all go to get to the room?"

"Of course I can lead the way! What do you take me for?" The Haunter grinned at the girl and then disappeared around the corner. Matt followed without reservation, trusting his Pokémon to lead him right and not run them straight into any Rocket grunts that happened to be in the hallways.

"All of the Pokémon ought to be there, but there's no telling because the Rockets can be crafty at times. I have no idea how many Pokémon they've stolen, moved to other bases, or re-purposed for their own needs; whatever those needs may be. However, since your Pokémon," Ender motioned to both Matt and Adria, "were stolen only recently, I assume that they'll still be safely tucked away in storage."

Adria nodded her head in understanding, following after Matt and Ender quickly. "Yes, I understand what you mean. You're probably right about that. If they've got a line, then we're likely last stolen from." She reasoned with herself. This Ender Pokémon must have been correct. There was no arguing with the logic that he presented. "Five of my Pokémon were stolen from me. I hope those five are still there when we get there though." There was still that off chance that they may not be all there.

"They're most likely to pick whatever Pokémon from the bunch that they need, but since they've been stolen so recently, it is highly unlikely that they would have been picked out of the bunch." The Haunter weaved through the hallways easily, occasionally peeking through walls to make sure they were going to right way to the door that would lead them to the storage.

Matt followed along after his trusted Pokémon wordlessly; there was no need for him to speak just yet. He only wanted to get to the storage so he could get his friends back. Four of them had been stolen from him and he didn't like the thought of them being forcefully taken from his side like this. When they finally arrived at the door, Matt was practically brimming with impatience. Ender popped through the door to take a look and see if there was anyone inside, but it was clear. "All clear! Let's go!" He slipped completely through the door, leaving Matt to actually open it and slip inside.

Adria slipped in after Matt, with Darteng quick after her and closed the door behind them. "Wonderful!" Adria whispered in delight, glad that she was here sooner than she'd expected. Before, she'd been making a map to go based on and simple deduction skills to deduce which room housed the Pokémon that were stolen. But now that she wasn't alone, her job was made easier. Now she'd be able to get her mission over sooner than she thought. On her map were red X's. Those were places she'd hidden explosives, and she planned to hide one in here. After putting everything away, she'd find the nearest exit after pulling the fire alarm and, when majority of people were out, set off the explosives. Adria was hell-bent on doing this, but she didn't want to kill the people in the process. She wasn't a killer.

They were only just teenagers, the both of the trainers that had been roped into this mess; they shouldn't be in here at all. But their Pokémon were missing, and Matt was not about to let this injustice go without some retribution. He needed to get his team back; they were his friends and family on the road and he really didn't have time to be stalling around here forever. There was something he needed to do and this was a very unwelcome intrusion upon his time.

Busy teenagers: yes. Murderers: no.

Both Matt and Ender had taken no time to rest and stand around; both were already digging about and looking for their companions first and foremost. After they located the Pokémon they were looking for, they would then grab the rest of them and figure out how to get them back to their proper trainers.

Darteng and Adria both worked on locating their lost Pokémon, as well. Darteng was looking along the shelves and Adria shuffled through draws and peeked into closets. Finally, though, Adria found a bag stashed away in the bottom of a deep drawer filled with Pokéballs. "Hey, I think I found them!" she hissed over to Matt and Ender. Digging into the bag, she removed several of them and released two. One was her Houndoom Cerberus and the other two were ones she didn't recognize to be hers. "Either of these yours? There's more in here!" she held open the bag for Matt.

Matt had, beforehand, marked his Pokéballs. It was something he had always done because his father had told him of too many times that his own Pokéballs had been accidentally mixed up with someone else's. It was best to mark them in some way, not permanent, that could be recognized. Thankfully, he had marked them with Sharpie sometime in the past and was able to locate the six Pokéballs that he was missing. Despite the fact that Ender and Shida were with him, their Pokéballs had been stolen from his person. It was a cinch to find the six missing items and he pocketed them away in a safe place for later.

Adria recalled the other two Pokémon into their Pokéballs and looked for the others she had. She hadn't really marked them, though she could recognize them from chipped paint on the Pokéball itself or the Safari Ball that was used to catch Darteng a long time ago. Adria was a little prone to dropping her Pokéballs every now and then. On rocks. Or concrete. Or whatever. "You have all your Pokémon now? I do."

"Yup. I've got all six Pokéballs that were missing and only two of them are empty. Just right." Matt had spoken and Shida chattered in what seemed to be agreement. Everyone was back where they should be; now they just needed to focus on getting out of the base without raising the alarm or getting caught.

"Okay, now that that's done, let's get to the exit before any Rockets decide they need a Pokémon from storage." Ender suggested, floating to the door and pushing himself half-way through the material. There was no one out in the hallway, so they were clear to leave the room.

"You go on ahead," Adria began. "I've planted some explosives while snooping around here. I'm going to go find a fire alarm and pull it and get everyone out. Meanwhile, you should probably get within some safe distance. I dressed up as a grunt so I could blend in with the fleeing crowd." Adria pulled out a map. "The closest alarm is here," she pointed to the other side of the hall, "while the closest door is here," she pointed to a door, which was in the opposite direction. "This facility is only one floor, so windows are also a good access point. Outside will be swarming with grunts."

"You what!?" Matt exclaimed, though quickly covered his mouth to avoid more loud sounds coming out. After a moment, he continued speaking in a much lower tone of voice, "You laced this place with explosives?!" His exclamation was nothing more than a hushed whisper. "Where in the world did you get explosives?" Explosives, after all, were not typically something that could be easily purchased or made without specific knowledge of how they work. To make explosives big enough to destroy this whole building was a dangerous feat and being around this strange girl was starting to make Matt very nervous. At least she planned to pull the fire alarm, though...

Even Ender had pulled back into the room in surprise. It wasn't entirely unusual for Rocket bases to be destroyed in various violent manners, but to hear that this odd girl had planted explosives around the base and was planning to blow it sky-high was slightly surprising. This girl was the last person he would have expected to be this violent.

Adria looked like she was about to clamp a hand over Matt's mouth, though didn't since he did it on his own. "Shut up before someone hears us!" she hissed. "I knew that even in a Rocket base there are some small explosives. If enough go off at once and within a good range, it can send the base flying. I broke into one of their storage's and grabbed some. Small packs that aren't really used much unless..." she stopped what she was about to say. This stranger didn't need to know that much information. After all, it was mostly a secret to the civilians. "Never mind. Point being I just stole them from the Rockets."

Matt stared at her for a long moment. It seemed like he was really unsure of what he was supposed to say at this point; his mouth with open slightly and it really seemed like he was about to say something, but he never did. Finally, his mouth shut with a tiny click and he shook his head vehemently. "You know what, never mind. I don't care. Just don't blow yourself up." He turned abruptly and walked briskly to the door. Pausing only to listen and make sure no one was outside the door or coming down the hallway, Matt slipped out of the storage room and left Adria to her devices. If she wanted to blow the base up, she was more than welcome to do so. Matt just wanted to get the Pokémon and get out. It would probably be best if they parted ways here because Matt really had no interest in making a friend in someone he met while slinking around a Rocket base. Not again.

Adria stared after him, pursing her lips. "How rude," she mumbled after him as he left the storage room. Pulling out one last pack or explosives and a few other things, she positioned it nearby the door just outside behind a wooden box labeled 'fragile'. Then she had Cerberus light a fire that spread through the room, recalled him and Dart and slipped out quickly. With her Pokémon clipped to her belt, she began to head back to the door that she'd gotten into the building through. Along the way, she pulled the Fire alarm switch. Within seconds the alarm was raised and blaring in her ear drums. Now in a sprint through the halls, she started yelling 'fire, fire!' Playing her part well, the grunts and scientists were alarmed and exiting their labs and other rooms and running for any and every exit available.

Matt was hard pressed to get out of the base before the crowds grew and he was caught by the fleeing grunts and other Rocket members. It was a mess, really, but he managed to make it out alright, gaining some distance from the base. The last place he wanted to be was near-by the base when those explosives went off. With any luck, he wouldn't run into that strange girl again, either. He had some other pressing business to attend to, anyway, and he'd only been temporarily side-tracked by the intrusion of the Rockets.

"Aw, don't be so harsh on the girl. God knows you could use a friend or two besides me." Ender taunted him, practically reading his thoughts. The Haunter had also been witness to whatever seemed to have irritated Matt so badly about running into someone while sneaking around a base. Matt just scoffed slightly in response to Ender's teasing, used to such words. "Look, she was just blowing up a Rocket base! That's not that bad is it? I mean, sure she knew a lot of weird things about explosives and she's probably a psycho pyromaniac, but she seemed nice." That got a little laugh out of Matt and the red-headed boy nudged his ghostly partner. "Knock it off, Ender." A pause. "...Hey, go make sure she made it out, would you?" The Haunter saluted and disappeared to find the girl that they had split away from.

Meanwhile, the girl was running through the base yelling about the fire and telling everyone they had to get out now. The fire was spreading in that room, and the first explosion in that store room went off, causing some panic among the grunts. The fire had spread and found that explosive solution she'd planted. Of course she'd meant for that to happen, but the rest were to explode using a remote she had. Adria played her panicked roll just fine to get a lot of people out, directing the panicked grunts to the doors and asking around if there were any more people who weren't awake or not running or something. Maybe there were people in the bathroom, as well.

The alarm that was blaring overhead seemed loud enough to wake the dead. It was almost certain that everyone had heard the alarm and they were making for the exit as quickly as possible. Most Rockets seemed to have a partner that they needed to keep track of during times like this and it also seemed that they were all accounted for. Scientist had vacated their labs and grunts had escaped their tasks, rounds, and beds. Everyone that wanted to be out of the base was out and gaining distance away from the spreading fire.

A cold presence settled behind Adria, following her about like a cool breeze. It would keep an eye on her and make sure that she came to no harm. Matt may not have been excessively pleased with Adria's company in the base, but he wanted to at least make sure that she would be alright. His conscience would never let him live it down if something bad happened to her because he had been irritated.

Adria waited until she barely saw any more people before pulling out a remote that would electronically send signals to each explosive and have them go off. On the screen there was a red word saying 'terminated' while the other words were white against the black background numbering 1-6. Selecting each and every one, she set a timer for 30 seconds, tossed the remote away in the direction of the closest bomb and ran to the door and out. Within 5 seconds of getting out and to a safe distance where she'd hid her bag and clothing, the base went up in smoke and flames. Adria was satisfied.

"You seem quite happy with your accomplishment." The disembodied voice was a foot or two behind her. Despite the ghostly urge to play around and whisper in her ear, Ender refrained from falling to his more base instincts. Instead, he made himself visible to her, folding his fingers together casually and bobbing in the air before her. "Tell me; are you really a psycho pyromaniac? Because it seems like it would be a pretty fun job, if you get to go around screwing with the Rockets all the time." Ender's eyes seemed to gleam with happiness and it became clear that he was just teasing her. Ender was a happy sort of fellow with genuine concern for others, but that didn't mean he was above a little playful banter and teasing. He was especially cavalier with Matt; those two had practically grown up together.

Adria jumped up and squealed once again, whirling around in surprise. "D-Don't do that!" she squeaked out, quite a bit startled once again. "Geez, you're going to give me a heart attack! Then what?" she teased. "And I'm no pyromaniac, I'm just trying to prove something to someone, is all, by blowing up a base… Where's your trainer? I'd have thought you'd both be long gone by now, now that you got what you've come for." she asked. The one kid, she didn't know his name, but that red-head, she thought was a bit rude. Inwardly, she had to admit he was kind of cute, but she wouldn't dare admit that aloud. If he was rude as a person, she wasn't interested.

Ender laughed a very ghostly cackling-type laugh, but it was clearly in good humor. "Trying to prove something, eh? Seems a little ridiculously over-the-top, if you get what I'm saying." He jerked a thumb over his nonexistent shoulder at the base. It could be seen easily from their current location as the light from the fire was cast upon all of the surrounding area.

"As for Matt," he stressed the name for her benefit so she would actually know what to call him, "he's not too keen on making friends with someone he met snooping around in a Rocket base, but he sent me to check on you and make sure you made it out alright. Kid's got a complex, if you ask me." The Haunter chuckled again. "Anyway, I'll report back to him that you made it out alright, if a little singed on the edges. If I exaggerate, maybe he'll feel guilty enough to start being friendly," he smiled deviously at the thought.

Adria shook her head. "For what I'm trying to prove, it's probably just the beginning." she explained quickly. "Definitely not over the top if you ask me." Of course she had no intention of giving more information about that. "And this _Matt_ character," she began, tapping her chin. "I've got the feeling that he's no intentions of meeting back up with me any time soon nor does he seem to even want to cross paths with me. Lie if you want, but I don't think he'll want to come running back to double check." To her, he was just rather rude and seemed very unwilling to make any sort of connections to anyone. She got the feeling he was quite reserved. Not that it really mattered, though since everyone had something they kept secret from others, especially from strangers. "But also, if you do and he comes this way, my brother's house isn't too far from here. Cerulean is even further, so you're both welcome to tag along for a place for the night. It'll be dark by time you reach town, if I'm correct."

"I think he might appreciate that. Or, at the very least, I'll make him appreciate it. He hasn't had a good rest in a while. None of us have, really. We're too busy for that," he didn't elaborate, didn't need to, "but I thank you for the kind offer. Perhaps you'll see us later. We're headed in that direction anyway." Ender seemed to shrug slightly backing off from Adria a little as if he was about to leave. "Congratulations on destroying the base, though. It was quite a spectacle. And good luck on 'proving a point.'"

The ghost took his leave by disappearing, off to report to his trainer and friend that the girl had made it out alright. He hadn't made it a point to ask her name because he doubted that Matt really cared at this point and would likely just try to put this whole incident out of his mind. He liked to stay more to himself these days after everything that had happened to him; it was easier that way. All he really needed were his Pokémon and his family and he was good.

With a small smile, Adria waited until Ender seemed to be gone before grabbing her clothes and going behind a large tree to change. Now that she was no longer in need of the uncomfortable uniform, she was free to change into her own clothing, which consisted of dark blue jeans with fringes at the bottom of the hemmed leg, a blank long-sleeve black turtleneck with a little hem-work on the shoulders and the end of the sleeves, and black and blue converse. It felt much better being in these clothing. Although changing in the middle of a forest wasn't ideal for her, it wasn't like there was a changing room nearby and the area was rather secluded. After fixing her hair a bit, Adria released Cerberus and Darteng to thank them and praise them on their hard work. She would give them some treats, but that could wait until she got to her brothers house.

While Adria changed back into her regular clothes, Ender returned to his impatient trainer. "Well?" The red-head was curious and a little worried and the tone of the question made Ender grin. "She's fine. She invited you over to her brother's place, though. Didn't exactly say where, but I'm willing to go snooping around to find it because God knows we need a rest."

Matt frowned slightly. "Wait, wait, wait, what are you going on about? Going to her brother's house? Why in the world would we do something like that!? We just met her, for goodness sake, and I'm not keen on meeting the brother of a pyromaniac."

"Too bad! You're going to accept a kind invitation whether you like it or not because we all need a little rest. We've been going for two days straight trying to find Tary and we haven't found her yet. I know you're worried, and I am too, but she's not going to disappear if we take just a little time to get some good sleep." While he had been talking, Ender had latched onto Matt's wrist and had started dragging him away from the base and in the direction of Cerulean city. Matt was still looking a little skeptical, but Ender wouldn't let him back out of something like this. They were going to get to know this nice girl, even if Ender had to force Matt to do it.

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Characters introduced:

Matt, Ender, Shida, Tary - played by Lokiko

Adria, Nathan, Maddie, Darteng, Cerberus, other Pokemon in the yard - played by Koilate


	2. Calm Before the Storm

**A/N**

**This chapter is a bit longer and a bit more quiet. It's just sort of getting to know the characters a little bit.**

**Also, thank you to Koten123 and Zoeten for following! And Koilate, of course, thank you for writing this with me. **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or Koilate and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

* * *

**Chapter 2:** Calm Before the Storm

The house that Adria had mentioned really wasn't too far away. It was closer than the town anyway, seeing as the house was rather outside the perimeter where there was more privacy. If anyone went nearby it, it wasn't too hard to miss. There were Pokémon outside; a Vaporeon, a Roserade, a Mightyena, and a few other others. The yard was fenced and there were garden patches under the windows. The house itself was a large, two-story home. Darteng and Cerberus and Adria had arrived at the house without any problems. Adria was inside now, while Cerberus and Darteng were outside. Darteng was taking a nap while Cerberus was playing nonchalantly with the Mightyena.

Ender and Matt arrived not long after Adria did. Ender had practically dragged a rather unwilling Matt the entire way. The house was nice, though, and both had stopped to admire it. Shida, on the other hand, had immediately hopped the fence and was darting about playfully, looking for someone to have fun with. "Shida!" Matt exclaimed, wondering just how he was going to get her back without intruding. Ender grinned, "I'll go check and see if this is the right house!" The ghost immediately left Matt standing helplessly outside the fence that he didn't want to cross. He couldn't just leave without his Pokémon, so he was stuck standing here and waiting for one, the other, or both to come back to him.

Ender appeared in the house abruptly, searching about for the familiar girl. The Pokémon outside, at least the Croagunk and Houndoom, were familiar to him from when he had seen them earlier, but he wanted to make sure. It was also rather fun to just leave Matt hanging outside. It was revenge for being so stubborn.

Inside was very neat and clean. Immediately to the right of the door was the living room, the couch tucked under the window with the television against the wall opposite and a book shelf to the far side, right of the couch. The wall the television was against was a supporting wall for stairs that lead up. Straight ahead from the door was the kitchen, and just before the kitchen to the left was a hallway leading to the bathroom, the guest bedroom and the master bedroom. At first, no one was to be seen.

However, there was movement in the kitchen, and a young, blond woman appeared in the doorway. "Nathan!" she called, eyeing the ghost and the door warily.

Footsteps. A tall young male with dark black hair in jeans and a white T-shirt ran to the woman from the hallway. "What is it Maddie?"

"There's some kid outside, and a ghost Pokémon just came in here!" How would she have known that? The blinds for the window were shut and there were no other windows showing the door, nor where Matt was outside. The blond woman frowned, concerned. Was their house under attack?

"A kid and a ghost?" There came a familiar voice from up the stairs. There was some thumping down the stairs and the girl from before, Adria, hopped down. "Red-head? That's the other kid I was telling you about!" Adria grinned, glad that they showed up.

Ender seemed slightly uncomfortable to come in contact with two very unfamiliar people. He swore he had recognized the Pokémon outside and he was a little afraid that he had entered the wrong house and had been mistaken. Adria's sudden appearance was a saving grace and the ghost broke into a wide grin, "Oh good! You're here. I was a little afraid I'd gone and popped into the wrong house. Then you," he turned to look at the dark-haired young man that had run in from his left, "must be her brother. Lovely house you have. And a nice property, I must admit." The ghost seemed friendly enough to the two strangers. He also spoke Japanese, which made this situation infinitely less awkward because now he could explain himself and why he had just invaded their home. "I dragged Matt over here so that he may have a little companionship." Matt didn't have any friends other than his Pokémon.

Outside, Matt was just trying to keep Shida from running rampant over property that wasn't theirs. She seemed to be enjoying herself, however, and showed no signs of stopping her rambunctious playing.

Nathan had been filled in on the happenings at the base and quite frankly he wasn't happy about his baby sister going out and doing that. Her idea of even doing that was unthinkable, all because she had wanted to prove something to him. But Nathan had told her no, again, leaving Adria quite unamused. Still, she didn't pout. At the very least, she had gotten her Pokémon back, though, and spared the lives of the grunts. So when Ender spoke, he didn't seem all too surprised, having expected it, though was a bit amazed. What perfect Japanese! "Th-thank you?"

Adria grinned. "Wonderful! I've prepared the guest bedroom in case you and Matt had shown up. And I'm glad you did. Anyway, bring him in, bring him in."

Ender grinned and clapped his hands together, rubbing them eagerly. "Oh good! I'll go do that, then." Abruptly as he had appeared, Ender disappeared again. He joined his trainer outside, but didn't manage to startle him because Matt had been living with the ghost for years and nothing he could do could scare him anymore. "It's the right house. They're inviting you in."

Matt looked to his friend warily. "You're not just telling me this to get me in trouble some way, are you?" While he did trust his friend, Ender could be a little tricky sometimes and Matt didn't particularly want to get in trouble for trespassing. Ender cackled at him, "No! Of course not. Adria's inside with her brother. So go on!" Ender practically shoved the young man through the gate and right up to the door. He raised one of his floating hands and knocked firmly on the door three times to get their attention. Shida was still running about in the yard, totally oblivious to what her trainer was doing while she chatted with the other Pokémon present.

Adria skipped over to the door and after two clicks, the door was unlocked and was open and inviting. She looked relatively happy to see them there and hoped that Matt may be a bit nicer this time, although she wouldn't put it past him to be a bit to himself and slightly rude. But she'd invited them for the night. Although this was her brother's house, she had been living in this house for quite a while. Her mother was currently living in another region back where she and her brother had grown up. As for her father... "I'm glad you both accepted my invitation. It's getting late. I've prepared a guest bedroom for you and Ender, as well."

Matt offered a resigned smile. Ender had dragged him here and he supposed that he'd just have to accept that he was going to be staying here for the night. He could leave early tomorrow morning to try and track down the person that he had been looking for. For now, however, he would attempt to enjoy a little human company. "Thank you very much for your offer," he stepped over the threshold, since she had opened the door for him. "By the way, I never got your name." If he was going to be staying here for the night, he needed to know the name of the person that was offering him a place to stay for the night. It wouldn't have been hard to just go to the next town over, but Ender wasn't going to let it happen.

Adria smiled, closing the door after him. "Adria," she answered simply, "and that's my brother Nathan and his girlfriend Maddie," she pointed to the black-haired young man and the blond young woman. Both waved at Matt and Ender. They were both about 18-19 years old. Nathan was 19, Maddie was 18, and Nathan was about to turn 20 in a few months. "Allow me to show you to the room you and Ender will be staying in for the night." Adria turned and lead the way to the left and down the hall. Taking another left almost immediately was the door to the guest bedroom. One bed had been prepared for him. Bathroom was across the hall.

Matt inclined his head politely to Adria and then to her brother and her brother's girlfriend. "Matt." He shared his own name, rather unaware that Ender had already told Adria his name when they exchanged words earlier. It was nice to finally know the girl's name, though, even if he didn't really have any plans of sticking around and becoming friends.

"If you don't mind terribly, I'll just wander about outside. Ghosts don't have much of a need for sleep." Ender had no real interest in sticking around in the room that Matt would be staying in. He'd much rather explore around outside and only occasionally peek his head into Matt's room to check on him. The ghost disappeared from their company abruptly, probably heading outside to check on all the Pokémon out there. Matt mentally cursed the fact that Ender had just, probably, purposefully left him in a house filled with people he didn't know, but followed Adria as she showed him where he would stay for the night.

Adria waved to Ender as he said so. Upon entering the room, Adria took a seat on the bed. The bed was against the corner opposite of the door with a wooden night stand. The room was small, allowing only two twin-sized beds and a joined night stand and one closet in there. "It's not much in here, but it should suffice. Feel free to make yourself comfortable. With the exception of your friend, nothing can slip in without alarming us so it's safe here. My brother has alarms set for every door and window. And we have some video cameras mounted on the porch and a few yards away outside all around. Maddie would have likely seen you coming up beforehand. And we also have some tough Pokémon who like to keep guard, as well. So you're perfectly safe to relax a bit and have a good rest tonight. And don't forget about dinner, either. Maddie and Nathan are boiling vegetables and throwing it in fresh ramen. We made a lot in case you came by. Stay here if you like, or explore out in the back if you want, or something. Doors that are closed keep out of, though."

Matt joined her at the bed and set down the bag he had been carrying. It had all of his trainer things and other things that he generally needed for traveling. He had only recently returned home and refreshed his supplies after having gone to Johto and explored a few other regions. Despite being 16, Matt had gone a lot of places and seen a lot of things. Now, he had returned to Kanto for a mission.

"Thank you for the generous offer, Adria. We could probably use a good rest, but we're likely going to leave early tomorrow. You see, I'm trying to catch up to someone and I'm not exactly sure where she is. The longer I wait around in one place, the further away she gets and the more places I have to look to find her." That seemed to be as much as he was willing to admit on his own, though Adria was free to ask questions and he might answer them. Matt seemed like a nice guy, if a little withdrawn from people, so he wouldn't snap at her if she asked questions, as long as they weren't too personal.

Adria was only a little surprised to hear him speak of his plans and his actions. The stolen Pokémon and the base must have only sidetracked his goal, then. She remembered what Ender had said, that he hadn't had a good rest in a while. Of course Matt probably didn't know that Ender had said that to her previously. "I see. This girl must be very important to you, then." After all, if he was going through such lengths of not resting well to find her, she must have been quite important to him. "Have you any idea of where she is, or are you just searching anywhere and everywhere for her?" Adria didn't ask who it was. She had a few guesses, but those weren't important. She had just met this guy, so there was no need to know too much about him. If he planned to leave in the early morning... well, she hoped he would at least wait until it was light outside.

"She set out from Pallet Town about a week ago. I couldn't make it back in time to see her off and travel with her, so I'm hoping to follow the route of a new trainer until I run across her. I tried calling, but she doesn't really have a phone. Apparently, she mostly sticks to public phones and Pokémon Centers so she can call home every once in a while." All while he was talking, Matt never explicitly stated his relation to this girl that he was looking for. He obviously cared a great deal, though, and knew what he was doing, but he didn't mention just who she was. "I've been going through towns systematically to try and find her, but no luck so far. I'm hoping to catch up to her and keep her company for a while. She's always been rather shy and withdrawn, and I worry about her." His brow furrowed slightly at the thought of the girl he was searching for, but he shook his head and tried to put it out of his mind for the night. It would do no good to dwell on negative, worrisome thoughts while he was staying here. It was just for the night, after all.

Adria thought about this for a moment. From Pallet town, eh? Adria wasn't originally from Kanto, but she did start her travels in Kanto after getting Darteng and Cerberus. But she had started in Cerulean, so she didn't know too much about Kanto. And she also didn't stick to the traditional path for journeys. She often got side-tracked and went off the road to explore a bit more. "What town do you think she's at now? If you can guess her travel rate and plug it into the timeframe of her travels, you can get a good idea of where she is. But don't stop there. If you have a flyer, go to the next town over and walk backwards. You're sure to cross paths if all things go well. Otherwise, if you chase after her, you won't know if she's really ahead of you or not. And if she's ahead of you, you may not catch up to her as quickly. But if you walk to her rather than after her, I'm sure you'll get there. Wouldn't you think?" Be ahead of the game. That was what Nathan always did for work. His work consisted of being one step ahead. It worked for him. Hopefully it would have the same effect for Matt and Ender.

Matt looked up when Adria started talking and had to admit that her idea was sound. It surprised him slightly that he hadn't thought of such an idea himself, but he was also a little afraid that he would still miss the girl he was looking for if he chose the wrong city to start from. "That's... actually a pretty good idea. But I don't have any idea what town she's at. I don't know if she's taking the gym challenge or just catching Pokémon along the way, or just traveling from town to town as quickly as possible." He gnawed on his lip and took a seat on the bed, next to Adria. A sigh escaped him as he thought of just how much ground he was going to need to cover either way. "Besides, no matter which way I go, I'm a little afraid I'll pass her by accident. There are a lot of different routes and off-shoots of those routes and then she could be anywhere in any town." It would be very easy to pass her by accident, no matter which way he was going. She was only a single little girl, after all.

"Then call up the centers and ask if they have seen her. If they haven't, call the next center. It's likely you'll be able to track down which route she hasn't taken and which route she has. If there's a string of centers she's not shown up in but you think this is the path she takes, and then you'll know where to start. It's like string-tracing. You know the kind creepers do in movies, or detectives. The only difference is that you won't be creepin' since you know her. It'll be because you want to find her and travel with her for a while." Nathan, in his line of work, had to do stuff like this. Failure wasn't an option for him. He would do almost anything to finish the job. "Start with Viridian, then go from there to the centers. The nurses keep track of who uses what for reasons like these. And then you can ask some to keep an eye out and pass word to her should she come by. Naturally, they would need to keep track and a log book of who does what and where. Use the resources available rather than doing it alone, I guess. They're there, after all."

Matt stared at her for a moment, a little deadpan. "Somehow, I think that calling a Pokémon Center and asking for the location of a little girl would be both incredibly creepy and slightly illegal. I'm not sure they'll give me that sort of information because I don't know if that would be something they need to keep confidential, but I suppose it's worth a shot." Really, it would be kind of creepy for a 16-year-old to go around calling for an 11-year-old, but it was worth a shot. He wanted to find her and travel with her before trouble found her. Trouble seemed to follow them both wherever they went and he was quite worried about a little girl traveling alone with just her Pokémon.

With a sigh, he shook his head. "I'll call tomorrow morning when I leave and see if I can't get some information on where to start. Until then, Ender dragged me here to get some rest." He supposed that it would be best if he tried to relax while he was here. He could worry about the girl he was searching for after he got a good night's rest. Ender wouldn't let him leave, so now was a time to take advantage of the kind hospitality of the people he was staying with.

At that, Adria rose from the bd. "Oops, sorry. I didn't mean to keep you from resting like Ender wanted you to. I'll leave you to rest or whatever. From the smell of things, dinner should be ready soon, though you don't have to join us and eat if you don't want to." Adria shrugged, standing back in the door frame. "But would you like something to drink? And later tonight if you want we can run your clothes through the wash so they're fresh for tomorrow. It won't be a problem, I guarantee you." Might as well offer to run his clothes through the wash later that night. They would be fresh for him. Maybe he'd like that, and maybe improve his mood a bit.

Matt shook his head. "I have a clean set of clothes in my bag; I was home not too long ago. And I don't need anything to drink, but thank you. I'll probably not join you for dinner, if that's alright. Sleep is more important at this point." Right now, now that he was sitting, resting, _relaxing_, his body was telling him that he needed sleep as soon as possible. His Pokémon would be fine until the morning and he could wait until he was out of their home to take care of them and beg for their forgiveness. The Rockets had taken them from him and that was unacceptable. He'd have to hope they forgave him for something like that.

Adria smiled and waved to him. "Right. Sleep well." With that, she closed the door behind her and left him to his peace and quiet, allowing him to finally rest after who knows how long. After all, that was what he really needed at that moment. She'd invited him down for that very reason. A good rest, according to Ender, was what he needed.

Speaking of Ender, she recalled that he said he'd be outside. Although Adria was bored at the moment, perhaps she could find company with Ender outside. Although dinner would be done in a bit, there was no hurt in going outside. With that thought in motion, Adria practically bounded out the door, barely able to put her shoes on properly to see if she couldn't find Ender. He was such an intriguing ghost.

Ender was just outside, not too far away from the door. Without anyone around, he had settled down and was just relaxing in the air. There was a peaceful aura around him. Although he was aware of Adria bounding out the door, he didn't turn to face her. Instead, he just admired the skyline, occasionally turning to take a look at the Pokémon in the fenced-off yard.

Shida had continued to run about, playing with any Pokémon she happened to come in contact with. It really seemed like the Furret had boundless energy to expend. She was youthful and playful, both. She was also very sociable and loved being around this many unfamiliar Pokémon that might be willing to talk and play with her. Although Matt had seemed so worn and tired, neither of his Pokémon showed any signs of such weariness. Ender didn't need to sleep really, being a ghost and all, and Matt clearly took very good care of his Pokémon. None of his Pokémon were adversely affected by the constant traveling; only Matt was exhausted.

The Roserade and the Vaporeon seem to be willing to play with Shida. The Roserade belonged to Maddie but the Vaporeon was both Nathan and Maddie's Pokémon. The Mightyena, who was very well cared for along with the other Pokémon, belonged to Nathan. There were several other Pokémon in the yard. A Fearow was there, a Dusknoir was roaming around, an Alakazam was meditating near the flower beds, a Blaziken was sparring with a Hitmonchan just out of fence line off to the side in a more clear area and a Clefable sat on the roof. "Ender, have you gone and checked out back? This house as built next to a small lake."

"Hm?" Ender turned slightly to acknowledge what she had said to him, though seemed somewhat distracted by thoughts. "No, I didn't peek back around there. I've just been watching the Pokémon go about their business. It's kind of peaceful out here." Ender was enjoying the quiet. It was like he was a whole different Pokémon now that Matt had gone to sleep and he was mostly on his own. He had dropped all the teasing and joking and was just looking very calm and relaxed. It was a whole different side of him that had come out. "I take it Matt's gone to sleep?" It wasn't really a question, because Ender already knew what Matt was doing, but he had left it open ended to offer Adria an avenue of conversation.

Adria nodded. "Yeah. I showed him to his room. He told me about the reasons why he traveling, too. You're looking for someone, he said. She started her journey a week or so ago from Pallet. I gave him a few ideas on how to locate her, but that was the extent of our conversation. After that, I left him to sleep," she filled in. "You two are close, so I take it this girl is also quite important to you as well. I hope the both of you manage to find her before too long. I'm sure your paths will cross. So I hope you manage to find her. "

"I don't doubt that we will," Ender chuckled slightly, body shaking back and forth as if he was shaking his head. "The question is, will we find her before trouble does? We tend to be a magnet for trouble in this family." A sigh escaped him and he shook his head again quickly, dismissing the topic of trouble. "It sounds like he didn't tell you who we are actually looking for, though. Typical of him, now days. The girl that we're looking for is his little sister. He wanted to be home in time to see her off and travel with her a ways, but we didn't make it before she left. Tary is important to both of us because we both grew up being overly protective of her," he smiled as thoughts of their childhood drifted into his mind.

"So it's his sister! Okay, now I understand." At first she'd been thinking that perhaps this girl he spoke about was a dearly beloved friend or, perhaps, girlfriend. But then he'd also said 'little girl' at one point, so she was a bit confused. "I remember when I began my journey, Nathan was there. His job was brand new to him at the time, though, so after a day we had to depart. But he kept tabs on me. I haven't exactly ended my journey, though. I'm on a break right now. That way Nathan and I can spend more time together. I guess there's nothing like sibling love. So I understand what you mean, even the over protective attitude." Adria commented. Though curious about what 'danger' shadowed them, she said nothing about it. There was no need to pry into the lives that of those she'd only just met.

Ender smiled as she grasped what exactly was going on now that he had mentioned just who they were looking for. "Matt and I have always been that way with her. She's a wallflower, really. She doesn't like confrontations and she's not very good at standing up for herself. However, she should have a few Pokémon at her side, now, and that might help her out." After all, she'd had a Growlithe for years and Matt had more recently, as in the past few years, gifted her a Mareep from Johto. Those two Pokémon, plus whatever she picked from the Professor from near-by Pallet Town, would help to guide her and protect her as she traveled. "But still, it'll be nice to finally catch up with her. It's been a while since we've seen her. Like I said, we got a little sidetracked in the other regions," the ghost grinned at the mention of their adventures in foreign territories. They had done a lot of exploring and training in their time away from home.

Adria giggled a bit. "Oh? I've gone through Sinnoh and part of Kanto. Started here and went straight to Kanto because my grans are there, so I got to visit them. Have any favorites from your journeys?" Adria asked. Small things like these she didn't mind asking about. It wasn't all personal and was typically general topic among most trainers. It was just one of those things in society that was a well known and shared topic in the trainer community, so Adria didn't feel like she was prying into personal information of Ender and Matt. She would respect their privacy.

"Favorites, huh?" Ender thought for a moment about all the different places he and Matt had visited. They'd hit up most of the regions at least once, if only for a short amount of time. The location where they spent the most time, however, had to be, "Johto. That's Matt's favorite region, I think. Besides Kanto, of course, because this was where he was born and he has a particular passion for the small towns around here. But Johto was fun. Personally, I was rather fond of the Lake of Rage in the north of the region and New Bark Town, just on the other side of Mt. Silver," Ender shared, offering his favorite places in Johto to go.

Johto had also been where Matt had learned about the evolution of Scyther, which was a good thing because of the Scyther he had on his team. Now it was a Scizor, much stronger and more confident than before. The evolution had done it worlds of good, and that was another reason that Matt was glad they had gone to Johto.

"Johto, eh?" Adria thought about it. "Hm... I haven't been there yet. I think I wanted to go there next after doing a bit of research on the region and some of the festivities. I would like to go to see the Kimono sisters, though. My mother went to one when she was younger and said it was beautiful. Simply marvelous, she said to me. It sounds like it would be a wonderful experience to go to. And that Pokéthlon sounds fun, as well. The Lake of rage someone told me was quite a sight to see on a beautiful day if the local Pokémon were in a good mood." Adria smiled at the thoughts of the possibilities there in Johto. It did sound like fun, but she wanted to be a bit more informed on what the locals were like and where to go and where not to go. Of course she would likely stray off the road due to something catching her attention.

"Johto's a fun region; we've spent a lot of time there. Well..." Ender grinned for a moment at a sudden thought that had occurred to him, "Matt spent quite a lot of that time lost. Boy's got no sense of direction. That's why Shida's always out. It's the only way Matt can get anywhere." The Haunter smiled and looked back out across the lawn to where the Furret was playing with the other Pokémon. She'd certainly made herself at home within the short time that they had spent at Nathan's home.

"But if you're going to head to Johto, you should give Matt and I a call. Despite whatever Matt says or does, I'm sure he appreciates a little human company and he'd love to go back to Johto after we track Tary down. You two could keep each other company and we could hit all the big tourist sites and maybe some of the other places we discovered while wandering around lost."

Adria cracked a smile. "I kind of doubt that. He doesn't seem too keen about getting to know me or anything, even if it's because he wants to find his sister. But who knows, I just met the both of you only… what, 3 or so hours ago? I don't know. I don't know you very well nor do I know Matt very well, so I could be absolutely wrong about that." Adria followed his gaze, enjoying the sight of the Pokémon playing with each other.

"Cerberus doesn't like people; I'm a bit surprised he didn't growl and chase Matt away earlier. Like, he really hates people. He dislikes my brother, even, and he's been with me since I was younger. Though he wasn't my first Pokémon to go on my adventure. He was my first Pokémon friend, but the second to join my team. He's moody and hates people. It's strange, but I guess it's just him." she shrugged. He was, at the moment, just kind of watching Shida in boredom and had no plans to join in on the fun.

"Oh, don't let Matt scare you off with his cool exterior. He just hasn't have a very good track record with friends," that was as much as he would say on the topic, but it was something of an explanation on why he acted the way he did. "I'm completely serious, though. I'll give you his number and you're more than welcome to join us whenever. Matt's really quite friendly if you get to know him." It was getting to know him that might be the problem, because he seemed intent on leaving quite early and interacting as little as possible. Not only did he want to find his sister as quickly as possible, but trouble tended to follow them and the last thing he wanted to do was put the people around him in danger. The only reason he wanted to travel with his sister was because she was already in danger from the same trouble that followed him. Traveling together might make them a little safer.

Ender turned his attention to the Pokémon. Shida was bouncing around energetically, playing with the Pokémon that seemed willing to play with her and also going to any Pokémon that didn't seem intent on joining them. She ran to Cerberus, pounced on his back, scurried around on him for a split second, and then leaped back off to go to another Pokémon. The Furret was certainly energetic tonight. "Sure seems like Shida doesn't care much that your Cerberus isn't interested in playing."

Adria laughed. "Cerberus isn't one to play very much. He barely plays with my other Pokémon. But then my other Pokémon tend to be either in the water, in the sky, too lazy, or too young and hyper for him to even keep track of." Adria smiled. "My team at this moment is him, Darteng, a Kingdra named Rylos, that Fearow over there named Firo, and a Buneary named Honey. Honey's inside, I think, though, but I don't know for sure. She likes to snug with Cerberus and he gives her baths a lot, as well. It's really cute. She's really cute. But she's too young to really go and do much adventuring and battling, so that's why I'm taking a break here." Adria explained. "Too bad Honey isn't outside. Shida would absolutely adore her~" Honey was just too cute for words. She was adorable and fluffy and loved honey and steamy bathrooms. Every time Adria got out of the shower Honey would run in and soak up the moisture. It was too cute.

"I'm sure Shida would love her. Shida loves cute things. She's very... maternal; I guess that would be the right word. She mothers Matt occasionally and it's really quite an amusing show." Shida was adorable when she got all protective and fussed over Matt. Ender just watched and let her do her thing. It was best not to get in her way when she went into 'mother hen mode'.

"Matt's got all his Pokémon inside, I think, 'sides me and Shida, of course. There's Gama the Politoed, Kane the Metagross, Kita the Dragonite, and Riley the Scizor. Kita can get pretty motherly too, and she's scary when she gets all protective over use. Kane and Gama are pretty laid back, though Gama can get pretty playful at times. Riley, though, is probably one of the nicest Pokémon I've ever met. He's mute, but he doesn't let it hold him back and he loves meeting people and making friends." Ender spoke fondly of all his teammates. They'd spent years together and had gotten to be a pretty close-knit team.

"A Scizor, eh? I... haven't seen very many of those around." To Ender, one so unfamiliar to her and vice versa, the statement would have seemed hesitant and almost quiet compared to everything else she'd stated. Perhaps it was just the imagination, though because she immediately followed up about the Dragonite. "I've not seen a Dragonite before, either. But I met someone who had a Metagross. He was once the owner of Rylos. It was a funny story, actually. I had a Wormadam, and he had a Gyarados that was fond of me. So we traded, only he mixed up Rylos and the Gyarados. He was a sincere man who told nothing but the truth, so there was absolutely no way for him to have done it on purpose. But he had a Metagross and it was incredibly strong. He wasn't one for battles, really, but it was really strong! Like, it was the strongest I'd ever seen before. I about had a spazz attack from just how powerful it was. And Metagross in general are pretty damn powerful but this... I dunno, I've only come across two in my travels, so may I don't know the average strength. He said that raising it from a Beldum was tough, but well worth it."

Ender caught the odd change of tone and speech when Adria spoke about the Scizor and he decided that it might be better not to bring it up. Instead, he moved on in the conversation as she moved on and spoke about the other Pokémon. "Heh, he was right; Beldum are a pain to train. They can only learn one move and that's Take Down. So every attack they make damages themselves and it's a slow process. Worth it, though, in the long-run. Metagross are powerful Pokémon and Kane is very loyal. I think you would like Kita. She's just the sweetest Pokémon there is. Her and Shida are very alike; both are very maternal towards Matt and everyone on the team. It's pretty sweet to watch." He fell quiet, just enjoying the peace of the darkening night. "But he's probably going to insist on leaving early tomorrow, so you probably won't get a chance to meet them. Maybe next time we cross paths, though."

Adria rolled her eyes. "Nathan and Maddie are leaving tonight and they won't be home until tomorrow morning. Because of his job we have good security. Matt won't be able to get out unless he manages to correctly hot-wire the key code or come up with the correct code to punch into the security system. Otherwise, he'll not be getting out without alarming the police." Adria informed. Nathan had a good job and it gave him great security. "Maddie was able to see you and Matt come up using the video cams there, there, and there, and further down the road," she pointed to a tree, the porch, a rock in the yard, and down the road. "And we have a monitor in the kitchen with the video feed shown on there. It may sound creepy, but it's all in our best interest."

"I don't see why that would be creepy. Good security is a good thing, and I think Matt will sleep better for it. I'll make sure he doesn't accidentally set off the alarms in the morning, though. No need to be waking anybody up or accidentally bringing the cops into this situation." Ender seemed amused by the possibility, but shook his head to discard the idea. Cops were definitely better left out of this situation.

"There's been a couple times where we got caught out in the open by trouble and only narrowly managed to escape. That's why I'm always out and on the patrol; to make sure nothing bad happens. Tonight, though, it seems like I have the freedom to just explore." The Haunter seemed greatly pleased by the idea of exploring this nice little property. He was a very curious Pokémon and not having to sleep opened up large windows to explore when everything went dead at night. "But Matt's still going to want to leave as soon as he can get out of the house without triggering an alarm."

"I'd rather you get him to wait until I wake up at least. It'll just be plain rude to suddenly leave in the early ungodly hours of the morning," Adria admitted. "But... I dunno. I don't know him very well nor are we friends, so I'll probably be best off keeping my nose out of the business. I'll give you both a call, though. Maybe in a while, or something. That is, if he'll be alright with it," she added. "Check out back, though. It's quite pretty out. I think dinner is ready now, so..." Adria shrugged and turned back towards the house. "I'll see you later, or something. Hopefully before you leave with Matt tomorrow."

"Matt can't leave the house without activating the alarm, so he's guaranteed to see you tomorrow morning." Ender grinned, apparently pleased by the development. Ender wanted Matt to make more friends and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. "And please, call any time. I'll make him be friendly if I have to. He needs more human friends and although he doesn't seem willing right now, I'll make sure he comes around. If it means anything, I sincerely enjoy your company." Ender didn't often talk to other people because of how on-the-move Matt had been lately. "Enjoy your dinner, Adria. I'll be around back, exploring, if you need me." He turned away and began to float around the back of the house, leaving Adria to reenter her brother's home and have dinner.

* * *

After that, the night went by smoothly. Adria found that her dinner was delicious, as per usual. Nathan and Maddie left later that night and left Adria in charge of the house. She would be free to leave the house if she wanted, though she didn't have plans to really leave the house at all. After they left, Adria went and took a long bath and had gone to bed. She'd double checked that the alarms were set the previous night. It was all for their safety, after all. Safety came first, above all. Soon, morning came. It was a bit rainy, but the sun peeked out of the clouds occasionally.

Ender had spent the majority of the night exploring the outside of the house. He rarely slipped inside, and it was only to check on Matt from time-to-time. The ghost didn't want to accidentally intrude in any of the more private rooms, after all. Adria had told Matt that rooms that had closed doors were off limits, and Ender respected that rule.

Come morning, Matt was up and ready by the time the sun was just over the horizon. It irked him when he found out he couldn't leave, but he resigned himself to waiting until Adria was awake. It couldn't hurt to wait around for a little longer, could it? Matt certainly hoped so. Trouble had been tailing him for quite some time now and staying in one place for too long was a recipe for disaster. Even if this house had great security, Matt was going to have to leave the house eventually and there was no proper security out there on the open road.

Eventually, Adria was up and moving around the house. Her room had been upstairs, so it was easy to note when she was moving around with the footsteps from above, basically over Matt's head. Soon enough, she hopped down the stairs and went straight to the kitchen to get herself a glass of juice, glancing around to see if Matt was about or not. If he was up and really wanted to leave, she figured she'd have to let him go, though she'd like it if he'd at least stay for breakfast. But that was only if he didn't want to stick around for 30 more minutes or so.

Matt had found a place to sit and was having a quiet conversation with Ender. At some point the previous night, Shida had slipped inside and curled up to sleep with Matt. Now, she was lying in his lap and relaxing and he ran his fingers through her fur. It seemed that Shida didn't care much for leaving, as she was perfectly content to just nap in Matt's lap for as long as he sat there. Ender was perfectly happy chatting with Matt as they waited for Adria to get up out of bed. Both Pokémon were fine with not leaving as early as Matt wanted, but Matt, himself, was slightly irritated that he'd been practically trapped in the house for longer than he had anticipated.

Grabbing another glass and filling it with some water, because she didn't know what else he'd like, she brought the glass over to Matt and offered it to him. A small Buneary followed her, and this was likely Honey, the Buneary that Adria had spoken to Ender about. She looked tired, stumbling after her trainer and climbing clumsily up on the couch. She was still small and very young, but old enough to be out and about and climbing on couches without assistance. She wasn't, however, old enough to start participating in Pokémon battles. "Morning Ender, Matt, Shida~" Adria chimed out. She seemed to have gotten a good night's rest the previous night.

Matt glanced up as she approached and accepted the glass of water she offered. "Good morning, Adria." True to his word, the teenage had changed into a fresh outfit consisting of a black t-shirt, a dusty brown jacket, and a worn pair of jeans. This pair of clothes was cleaner, but no less worn, than what he had been wearing yesterday. Either way, he didn't seem to care about what he was wearing. Right now, he just wanted to get out of the house and be on his way before something happened.

Ender seemed ten times as happy as Matt was at the moment, grinning at the girl that had joined them on the couch. "Good morning! Seems like you slept well last night." The Haunter grinned in the friendliest manner he could muster; a difficult feat when his mouth was jagged and designed for scaring people.

Adria herself didn't look all too different. She had the same kind of jeans ripped up at the bottom from worn from months of constant travel and a red turtleneck with the same hem-work design on the neck, the arms and the wrists, and her hair was down, something natural for just getting out of bed. "Indeed I did. I take it you had a nice night exploring around as well?" she asked. "And Matt, had a good nights of sleep?" she asked, directing her question to him as well.

Green eyes turned to Ender, silently and curiously asking if he really had been out exploring the night before. Ender took the chance to answer both of them at once. "Yes, it was absolutely beautiful outside in the dark. Very peaceful and that little lake was quite nice. It gave the whole backyard a really tranquil sort of feel."

Matt shrugged in response to his own question. "I did sleep well, thank you. I guess it was rather nice to finally get a good night's rest." The last few nights had been stressful because there was no telling when trouble would pop out at them.

"Good," Adria smiled. "Well, I know you had plans to leave rather early and that you're probably waiting for me to unlock the security control, Matt. I was wondering, though, if you'd be willing to stay for breakfast before you left?" she asked. "If you don't, it's fine. Just thought it'd be nice, though." Adria shrugged. She was glad that he stuck around that morning, rather than going and getting out on his own accord; it made her happy that he slept well and that Ender enjoyed himself. Adria didn't know Matt very well so she couldn't force him to do anything, only offer him a choice or two.

Matt seemed uncertain, throwing a somewhat nervous glance out the nearest window. Apparently he didn't see anything that alarmed him greatly because he continued to sit beside Adria, but he didn't relax much either. "I don't know. I've had trouble on my tail for a while and I've already stayed here for a while longer than I probably should have."

It became apparent that he was a little afraid that trouble would catch up with him and subsequently the people he was staying with. It was just Adria right now, and this house was pretty well monitored, but it didn't mean that trouble wasn't smart and couldn't figure out who he had been spending his time with while in this house.

Adria sighed slightly, though did her best to hide her disappointment and nodded. "Alright. I'll unlock security, then. Sorry for keeping you here with the security locked. Nathan's... he enjoys having the best security he can get, so when the opportunity to upgrade our system came forward he took it without hesitation." Moving over to the door only a few feet away and to the key pad, she punched in a 5-digit number, each number making a beeping noise. The last number beeped three times to signify that the doors and windows were now unlocked. "There you go, it's open now."

Matt stood from the couch, picking up Shida to avoid dumping her onto the floor by accident. "Thank you. I really ought to be going; I have a lot of ground to cover." He joined her by the door, allowing the now awake Shida to climb up onto his shoulders. "Sorry about wanting to run off so quickly, I'm just a little worried... Hey, um... Ender was telling me that you'd like to go to Johto sometime." He fished something out of his pocket and offered it to her. "If you decide to go, give us a call, or something." Matt didn't seem to know quite was he was doing, but he held out the paper with his number on it for her to take. If she wanted to go to Johto, she could call and they could travel together. Or, if she just wanted to talk or hang out or something, she was welcome to call. Ender was grinning in pride to see his trainer finally make a step in the right direction.

A smile touched Adria's lips as she accepted the phone number and scanned it. Was this Matt giving it to her, or had Ender made him give it to her? She didn't know, but she figured that maybe one day she'd give him a call. "Awesome! Thanks Matt. I won't be leaving for a while. Honey," she gestured to the Buneary who'd fallen back asleep on the couch, cuddling into one of the couch cushions, "isn't old enough to really go out on a full-scale adventure, so I won't be heading out to that region for a while. But I'll try and give you a call to say hi. I hope you find your sister, though."

"Thanks." Matt's lips quirked slightly into a smile, "I'll be taking some of your advice. I'm headed for one of the further towns and backtracking to see if I can't run into her. So thank you for that, too, and for letting me stay the night." He stepped over the threshold and into the crisp morning air. It was nice outside with the sun shining in a cloudless sky and a light breeze playing with the trees and sweeping across the ground. It was a good day for travel and flying. Matt had a feeling that he was going to be able to travel quite a ways today; that was good news for his mission to find his sister.

Unfortunately, his plans were unlikely to be fulfilled. According to the hooded figure sitting on the roof, things were about to turn for the worst.


	3. Introducing Trouble

**A/N **

**Back again, but this time with a little more action! And introducing trouble!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or Koilate and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

* * *

**Chapter 3:** Introducing Trouble

Adria hadn't checked the video feed from the previous night or this morning, so she couldn't have known about the figure on the rooftop. Of course, she wouldn't like it at all when things turned to the worst. And the Pokémon had either gone with Nathan and Maddie the previous night or went inside to sleep for the night. Cerberus was still asleep upstairs in Adria's room. Darteng was also asleep, and Firo was trying to wake up. All of the Pokémon were asleep so, as far as Adria knew, nothing was out of place. "Wonderful! Good luck on your mission to find your sister. Drop by any time, but give me a call first. I'll call you a bit later today so you have my number." Stepping into the doorway, she waved. "Thanks for the help yesterday, in the base, as well. Also, I'm not a pyromaniac," she'd never fully addressed that prior to now.

Matt laughed, amused that she felt the need to clarify that she wasn't a pyromaniac. Matt had that figured that she wasn't really; it was just something that Ender had said to tease them both. "You're welcome."

Only moments after he said something, the figure on the roof stood and chose to make their move. It was getting boring just sitting there, watching the pleasant exchange of idle chit-chat and phone numbers. It was time to make some chaos. The unidentified figure reached into the pockets of the baggy grey zip-up jacket they were wearing and pulled out two Pokéballs. That ought to be enough to properly mess with the two kids below.

Released from their enclosures, a great Tentacruel and a lithe Espeon descended upon Matt and Adria. The Espeon was specifically there to make sure Ender didn't get in the way. The Tentacruel on the other hand, had its sights set on the red-head standing halfway from the door to the gate of the fence. A powerful tentacle wrapped around the teen and yanked him completely off the ground.

Surprised by the sudden appearance of such hostile Pokémon, Adria sprung to action and her hand went instinctively to her waist where her Pokéballs were. But it was morning, and she was home and had no need to clip her Pokéballs onto her belt. Defenseless! Cerberus was upstairs along with Dart and Firo. Honey was much too young. Rylos was in the lake. All the other Pokémon were with Nathan and Maddie! With nothing to use as defense, Adria called to Honey and told her to go get the others, afraid that if she went herself the Tentacruel and Matt would disappear and she would be of no help to him. Meanwhile she grabbed the nearest object to her, which was an umbrella off the coat rack, and brandished it brazenly, leaving the semi-safety of the indoors in nothing but pink Nidoran (male) slippers and the clothing on her back to try and jump in and aid the red-headed trainer.

Matt was struggling as much as he could against the tightening tentacle wound around him. The tentacle was pinning his arms to his sides and preventing him from accessing his Pokémon for help. Shida had been knocked off and was attempting to defend him. Ender, meanwhile, was thoroughly occupied by the Pokémon he was weak against; the only thing he could do was try to keep the Espeon at bay.

With enough squirming, Matt managed to free one of his arms, but he still couldn't quite reach his Pokéballs. Instead, he threw out a hand to Adria to try and tell her to back off. "Don't try to get close!" The warning came subsequent her brandishing her ever-so-intimidating umbrella at the giant water monster with innumerable tentacles that could just as easily grab her as it had grabbed him.

The Tentacruel in question didn't seem pleased with Matt's shouting, so gripped tighter around his chest to keep him from making any more outbursts. However, his attention had been drawn to Adria and he turned his eyes to her to see what he was dealing with. She was a shrimp, really, and not worth his time at the moment. His target had been Matt and, now that he had the trainer, his next target was the closest body of water. He turned away from Adria almost lazily, instead moving to make his way around the side of the house.

For a moment Adria was stuck in place, her mind racing. Approach, don't approach, follow, help Ender, help Matt, throw rocks – so many choices to make and she herself could only chose one at a time. Behind her Cerberus came snarling down the stairs and right past her, going straight for the Espeon that was dealing with Ender. Darteng debated going after Cerberus to help or going after the Tentacruel. Type-wise, going to help fend off the Espeon meant he was at a major disadvantage. However, he'd have the upper hand should he go for the Tentacruel. Water attacks wouldn't affect him and his dry skin and poison was his first type.

He chose to waddle after the Tentacruel instead, making his way back into the house and going straight to the back door. The lake bed was behind the house, and he knew that was where the massive water Pokémon would be going; it was only logical. He croaked for his trainer to follow and avoid the conflict out front, the possibility of being injured if a Pokémon attack strayed from the target, and just cut through the house to the back. There was one thing Adria was certain of, and Matt could be certain of, and that was that Adria was going to help no matter what Matt said about it.

Of course Matt would be grateful for whatever help he could get at this point; he just hadn't wanted Adria to straight-up walk into the Tentacruel's clutches. A single human against such a large creature wasn't bound to have very good odds. There were so many powerful tentacles waving around that, should she have gotten closer, she would've walked straight into the same situation Matt found himself in. Speaking of his situation, it seemed to be looking grimmer and grimmer the closer they got to the water. It was obvious what the Tentacruel intended to do to him and, without the aid of his Pokémon, he wasn't going to be getting out of the tight grip around his torso any time soon.

Out front, Ender was locked in combat with the troublesome Espeon. The sudden appearance of Cerberus to his aid was very much welcomed because his opponent's main attack was not effective against him. The second Pokémon in the fight was bound to change the tide of the battle, but not as easily as he had hoped. Ender was familiar with this Pokémon, and it was a scrappy little thing. Just because it was going up against a dark-type Pokémon and it was being double teamed did not mean that it would be easy to take down.

Throwing open the back door, Adria had Darteng sprang into action immediately upon exiting the house. "Mud bomb!" Adria commanded and the toad took a deep break, taking in much air and moisture. Somehow, using physics and processes that Adria didn't understand, mud was created and exploded out of Darteng's mouth and straight towards the Tentacruel.

Running over to the lake, a large and enraged seahorse Pokémon surfaced. "Limit its vision with a smokescreen." The Kingdra puffed out his chest and a small puff of black smoke shot out of his mouth, exploding in mid-air at eye level of the Tentacruel, releasing smoke that drifted every which way. Next came a bubble. It was pink and very large, floating towards the Tentacruel. It was a 'Yawn' from the Kingdra. The smoke was to mask its approach.

Cerberus snarled and released a dark, wicked energy from his body, the Dark Pulse going straight for the Espeon. He was angry from being woken up so early in the morning. He was a lazy Pokémon and liked to sleep; he liked to sleep a lot and the fact that someone was attacking made him angry when Honey had rushed up to get him.

The Mud Bomb attack hit its intended target and the Tentacruel was knocked slightly off course. It didn't seem to faze the big Pokémon all the much, for he just continued towards the pond despite the attack and the smokescreen that rose up to inhibit his vision. Thankfully for the Pokémon, but not so much for Matt, the Tentacruel dove into the water before the yawn reached it and it avoided being put to sleep by the move. Now that it was under the water, the Tentacruel was in its element; it was stronger and faster under the water and dragged the struggling red-head down into the depths. Matt was still trying desperately to reach his Pokémon. If only he could get a hold of his own team, he might stand a better chance against this creature.

The Espeon darted away from the attack, off the side. The attack still managed to catch the fleeing Espeon, but it wasn't enough to take it out of the fight completely. Ender added to the assault with a Shadow Claw attack to see if he could do some damage. The Espeon dodged out of range of that attack completely and struck hard with a Psychic. It was going to have to think of a different way to take on Cerberus, but Ender was its main concern. Ender was the Pokémon it had been instructed to attack.

Adria cursed to herself as the Pokémon had dove down. Darteng could easily dive in after them, but none of his moves worked well and he wasn't good at punching underwater. However, if he could grab hold of the tentacles that were entangled around Matt, he could probably bite down to get them to release.

Darteng dove into the water right after along with his trainer who grabbed hold of Rylos and hitched a ride on him. Rylos swam swiftly down under the water after the Tentacruel. Wary of both Matt and Darteng, he used Dragon Pulse under the water to attack the large jelly fish.

Cerberus, back by the house, was already growing tired of this battle. His patience was thin as it was, and an Espeon attacking them wasn't helping him. It only made him try and go after it like a hunting dog on a rabbit hunt. Snarling and snapping his jaws, he tried to give chase; his mouth was engulfed with flames, readying a flamethrower.

The Tentacruel drew back sharply as the attack landed on its large, blue bell. Quickly, he turned his attention to the attackers that had followed him into the water. Just as Darteng didn't have any moves that were super effective against the Tentacruel, the Tentacruel didn't have much in the way of damaging moves that could hurt Darteng, or Rylos for that matter. Instead of attacking, it withdrew Matt closer to his body and thrashed its tentacles about in the water to churn it and obscure their vision somewhat as it scrambled for time. It decided that it could use one of its moves to its advantage underwater; Scald was dangerous because scalding water could inflict a nasty burn and, down in the pond, everyone was surrounded by water. It initiated the attack by firing a stream of the super heated water in the direction of its attackers, hoping to either burn them or heat the water to uncomfortable levels and drive them away.

Now that Cerberus was upset and completely focused on the Espeon, the Psychic-type knew the need to get away was high. Ender had been weakened sufficiently for the time being from the powerful Psychic attack and the large dog was too dangerous for the Espeon to comfortably take him on by itself. Growing weary of running about on the ground like a rabbit, the Espeon found its way back onto the roof by means of a few acrobatic leaps and the help of its Psychic powers and catlike grace. It pranced along the edge somewhat teasingly before retreating to its owner, the grey-hooded figure that was still standing up on the roof and observing all.

Rylos could feel the temperature rising as the stream of water grew closer. He knew his trainer couldn't handle the heat like that in the water so instead shot a Dragon Pulse below to propel himself and Adria out of the water as quickly as possible. Darteng joined them, swimming away for the moment to resurface. He was sure his trainer could come up with a plan very quickly. He needed to get to the tentacle that had Matt, and he planned to go all out and bite it as much as he could to get it to let go, but with the tentacles thrashing like so, that was difficult. Luckily, Adria had a plan already. For now, they had to flee; Adria needed to be above water to speak to Rylos and Darteng.

Cerberus snarled and barked, jumping up and down and spewing fire in the Espeon's direction clear of the roof top itself, clearly displeased and still very upset over being awoken for this.

Matt continued to squirm in the clutches of the overly-pleased Tentacruel. The water Pokémon was feeling a little smug after driving away his attackers and looked to the trainer that it had dragged down with him. Matt didn't look like he was going to be able to hold his breath much longer, especially with the tentacle constricting his lungs. By now, he had clamped his free hand over his mouth and nose, attempting to avoid reflexively inhaling water. Adria had better hurry with that plan of hers...

Ender was slowly recovering from the critical hit that the Espeon had scored on him. Right now, the Haunter was lucky he hadn't been taken out of the fight completely. His gaze followed Cerberus's enraged barking and fire up to the roof, where he spotted the Espeon and the figure in grey. Should he have been human, the very sight would have made his blood run cold. As it was, he simply scowled and turned away. He knew better than the try taking the Espeon on alone, so he didn't go to the rooftop. Instead, he went straight through the house and into the backyard because Matt had been dragged away by the Tentacruel and the safety of his trainer was very important to him. There had to be something he could do to help, so long as the Espeon didn't jump back into the fight.

On the surface, Adria gave quick instructions to both Pokémon before allowing them to dive back underwater. As they did, Darteng replayed the instructions in his head: "First, you and Rylos will travel under again. Bear through the searing water. Next, Rylos is going to use his dragon move 'Twister ' to get the water churning to grab the Tentacruel's attention while you, Dart, slip away and go straight for Matt. Be careful to not be seen when diving, and make it look like Rylos was alone when he dove back down."

The large seahorse used another Dragon Pulse to attack the large Tentacruel and began to churn the water with Twister, allowing the currents to change and bend to his will, also churning the heated water into the colder parts and releasing some of the heat from above. Darteng took this chance to swim with the current to the Tentacruel.

The plan worked; the Tentacruel was completely distracted by the sudden underwater twister that obscured the water and tore favorable currents away. It thrashed more to try remaining in its one spot and avoid being swept away in the angry current that Rylos had created. While its attention was so taken with the annoying seahorse Pokémon, Darteng was free to try and swim up to where Matt was being held still. Matt, in question, wasn't doing well. The thrashing of the Pokémon was disorienting him severely and he was on the cusp of passing out and losing his breath. Already, bubbles were escaping from his nose and mouth despite his attempts to prevent it; it would only be short moments before he completely lost the ability to hold his breath.

Darteng swam his way over into the tangles of the Pokémon's tentacles, navigating to the one that Matt was caught on. Finally grasping it, he bit down on the appendage to get the large, cruel jellyfish to release Matt. Darteng wouldn't be able to take Matt back to the surface on his own, but Rylos could power his way through using another twister to counter the other currents. Rylos was a powerful swimmer and could jet forward if he needed to, using Dragon Pulse like before. The water also felt a bit cooler, to his liking, and it made him feel better fit for this battle in the pond.

The Tentacruel's screech of anger and pain reverberated through the water, but Darteng's attack had the desired effect. The tentacle wrapped around Matt loosened enough for the trainer to wiggle his way free. Luckily, he still had some of his wits about him and reached to his belt. It wouldn't be necessary for Rylos to charge his way to Matt; Matt had his own helpful water type Pokémon. At the instant he was called, Gama the Politoed burst from his Pokéball and took stock of his situation. Without preamble, he latched onto the semi-conscious red-head floating in the water next to him and dragged him from the mess of tentacles that surrounded them. The Politoed could read the flailing currents and used them to his advantage to race to the surface as quickly as he could.

Meanwhile, above, the surface of the pond churned with all of the action below. Ender arrived to see a rather sodden Adria and the crazy writhing of the pond. "Adria! What's going on!? Where's Matt?" He'd missed out on quite a bit while he was out front battling the Espeon, but he had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where Matt was. The Espeon, in question, was watching them from the roof, sitting on the shoulder of the grey-hooded person.

Adria could still hear Cerberus barking angrily from the front of the house; still angry, but he had stopped using his flames. "That Tentacruel went straight under," Adria answered, shivering in her spot on the ground. She may or may not end up catching a cold for the air was crisp and there remained that light breeze. With few trees in this part of the area there wasn't anything to block the wind. "I sent Rylos to churn the waters and Darteng to free Matt. I can't see anything, but if it worked then they should be up any second now." Otherwise Adria would need to go back in. The water was cooler now. She hadn't escaped the scald completely. Her left foot had gotten burned and Rylos's tail was likely burnt as well. But he probably didn't care. The Kingdra hardly ever cared.

Ender looked to the water, hoping beyond hope that his trainer made it out alright. Matt was really going to have to thank Adria for this. If she hadn't been around, this could have ended a lot nastier. There was still the trouble of the figure on the roof, however, and the Tentacruel beneath the churning, sloshing surface of the pond.

Thankfully, Matt and Gama broke the surface moments after Adria's explanation. The second they were above water, Matt was coughing and gasping for air, trying to empty his lungs of water at the same time he was trying to breathe so he didn't pass out. Gama towed him easily to the bank, dragging him up onto land to avoid the Tentacruel making a grab at one of his ankles. Matt was relieved to feel solid earth underneath him again, but didn't have time to appreciate it at the moment because he was still trying to breathe properly while hacking up a lung. The light breeze that had been so pleasant before nipped at his sodden clothes and chilled him down to the bone.

Moments later, the Tentacruel burst from the water and sent spray in all direction from its thrashing tentacles. Apparently, it was angry that the trainer had been stolen from him. A loud whistle from the rooftop stopped it in its tracks. Its eyes turned to the figure on the roof.

The moment the unidentified person whistled, both Rylos and Darteng emerged from the deep waters. Darteng, originally, hoped to deal more damage to the large Tentacruel, but stopped when he noticed the creature had stopped attacking, as well. His eyes followed his gaze and to the mysterious person on the rooftop, croaking his dislike under his breath. This person, whoever they were, he didn't like at all.

Adria leaned over and helped Matt and Gama out of the water as fast as she could. Cerberus came darting around the side of the house and back to his trainer and the red-head. Seeing her and the boy wet made him unhappier, but he did nothing but take a position by them and radiate heat.

Matt was still panting, using one of his arms to hold himself up off the ground and wrapping the other around his abused ribs. He looked up at the figure with dread, but glared because he wasn't about to let them see him get unsettled at the very sight of trouble. Ender was glaring, psychic power gathering around his hands should another fight arise. The Espeon was nowhere in sight, however, and the Tentacruel had calmed significantly. The trainer on the roof – for it was obviously a trainer by the sheer virtue of having Pokémon – held up a Pokéball and recalled the Tentacruel. There was a laugh, emanating from the figure, before the mysterious person released a mean-looking Skarmory. The trainer hopped onto the Pokémon's back and took off, leaving the girl and boy behind to recover. It became apparent that this attack wasn't intended to kill either of them, only warning them that they could be attacked wherever they were and that the trainer that attacked them had been holding back. Next time they met, things might not end so nicely.

Watching the trainer fly off on his or her Skarmory, Adria's Pokémon seemed to have finally calmed down and were loosening up a bit. "That was what you meant by danger and trouble, wasn't it, Ender?" If that was the trouble... now she understood just why Matt had wanted to leave so badly. It was understandable why he had wanted to leave early and not travel with anyone, and why he wanted to find his sister. If that was the trouble tailing him and his sister, Adria wanted to help him as well. She hadn't realized it was _this_ kind of trouble.

Matt coughed again, finally getting the last of the water from his lungs and leaving him a little breathless. Ender was nodding, floating lower to the ground so that he could speak to Adria face-to-face; he was also weak from the earlier attack and it was taking quite a bit of his energy just to remain conscious. "Yeah... trouble going by the name of Alex." That seemed all that he was willing to say, at the moment. The rest she could try to wheedle out of Matt.

At the moment, the red-head was attempting to get to his feet, still grasping his ribs with his good arm. He looked up to where the mysterious trainer had flown off, scowling and wobbling slightly on unsteady feet. Alex was trouble, and trouble had been following him for a good few days. "Didn't want to drag anyone into my trouble..." His voice was slightly rough from coughing all the water out.

Adria pulled herself up and offered her own help to Matt, letting him use her as his support for the moment. "I see. Well I admire your bravery and need to keep others out of your troubles and going to find your sister because of this trouble, but I can't let you leave now. Not yet, anyway," Adria addressed. "You need to get some help, Matt, and you need to rest and recover, Ender." She began to help Matt back over to her house. Cerberus rose from his sitting position and looked at Ender, jerking his head back a bit. Ender, if he wanted (or could) hold onto him since it was taking so much of his energy to remain conscious. He didn't know if ghosts could float when unconscious or not and if it took some energy to stay afloat. But at the same time, Cerberus didn't care.

Ender gave a rather shaky smile, rising off the ground a bit further. "Oh... I'll be okay... Just, um... Psychic type aren't exactly my forte and Psy in particular is a tough hitter." He followed them back to the house. Matt was looking just a little displeased at the fact that he was going to have to stick around a little bit longer, but didn't argue much. His chest ached too much and he couldn't find his balance yet, not to mention the fact that he was soaked and chilled to the bone. The breeze was doing nothing to help him, so maybe it would be good to retreat inside for a little bit. "Alex may come back, though..." He pointed out; a weak argument, but an argument nonetheless.

Adria thought about that for a moment. It was true that he or she would probably return. Adria couldn't exactly let that happen, but it wasn't like there was some secret room or some secret vault or cellar to hide in should he or she, that Alex person, come back. There wasn't anywhere exactly safe to hide if Alex came back. "You're still staying here. I don't have any medical field experience so I'll need to call someone who does," she informed. "You're staying here until you're fit enough to travel." She was firmly set on this decision, even if this Alex person showed back up.

"It's just a couple of bruised ribs!" Matt protested slightly louder this time. "I just need a little time to catch my breath and I'll be fine."

Ender followed behind the two trainers, Gama trundling along at his side. "I'd suggest you stop arguing, Matt. It's clear that Adria doesn't intend to let you go anywhere with 'a couple of bruised ribs'." There was some slight sarcasm in his voice. Ender knew his trainer well, and he also knew the signs of pain that his trainer unconsciously showed. The pinch of his brow and slight flinch whenever he breathed in too deeply were more than enough to tell Ender that things were a tad more serious than 'a couple of bruised ribs'.

Whatever the case was, it seemed that Matt and Ender would be sticking around a little longer than Matt had hoped.

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Trouble, going by the name of Alex! Alex will be one of the main villains of this series, yay~


	4. Secret Exchange

**A/N **

**Chapter 4 is here! In which Matt and Adria have a little chat and trouble becomes double trouble.**

**Also, huge thanks to Zoeten and ChelseaSienaJosephineCassand ra for reviewing! And thank you to ChelseaSienaJosephineCassand ra for following, and Musical2day for following and favorite-ing!**

**News from Koilate, co-writer of this story and my good friend; she's thinking about posting a few stories about her characters (Adria, Nathan, James, and Benn are all her characters, for clarification) and their backgrounds and whatnot sometime in the future. She also says thank you to everyone that reads, follows, favorites, or reviews with nice comments.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 4:** Secret Exchange

Getting into the house and waiting for the others to get in, Darteng, who was taking up the rear, pulled the door closed after everyone. Adria helped Matt to the couch and left him for the phone. "He's right. You're not going anywhere, and I'll even turn security back on to keep you here if I have to," she dialed a few numbers and instantly got Nathan on the phone.

Nathan's work had some good doctors to take a look at Matt's 'couple of bruised ribs'. Adria had no medical experience so, as far as she knew, Matt's description could have described it perfectly. Getting a doctor from Cerulean could have taken too long because she'd have to explain and give them directions here. Meanwhile, the people at Nathan's work knew where the house was and would arrive almost immediately.

Matt fell silent at her threat to turn the security back on. At the point, it was almost advisable to do so because Alex could be back at any time and that was a very dangerous person to have after you. He sighed wearily, running a hand over his face and through his hair. He realized that he was still completely drenched and hesitated to sit on the couch. Both of the trainers were probably getting water everywhere after their dip in the pond out back. Deciding that keeping soaked clothes on wasn't such a good idea, he pulled off his jacket. Heavy with water as it was, it was a relief to have it off his shoulders. Setting the soggy item to the side where it hopefully wouldn't do too much damage, he examined the bruises left on his left arm, the arm that had been trapped by the Tentacruel's cruel tentacles. The bruises were already starting to turn an unappealing black color in stripes down his arm where the tentacle had pressed as it wound around him. No doubt his ribs would look quite similar.

"Just who are you calling, anyway?" He was genuinely curious about who Adria was trying to get on the phone that knew medical skills. Really, Matt still thought it was a waste of time, but he didn't particularly feel like arguing with the stubborn teenager.

At this point Adria didn't care about the couch getting wet; a couch could be replaced. "My brother," Adria answered. "His work has doctors that can get here in several minutes, at most, and any medical help is free of charge. It's less tedious and not a risk of Cerberus chasing them away from the house," because he had a tendency for doing that with almost anyone. He was in a bad mood right now, anyway, so another random person was the last thing he needed.

"He'll get someone down here. Being part of the work community he and his family get priority aid. Although I know what to do about it, plenty of water and some burn cream — my foot did get burned, after all — I don't know how long I have to administer the cream or if I need a specific brand or if it's all the same. By extension, this aid goes to you as well." Her explanation was very quick and quite possibly merged together at the end of the sentence because almost immediately after finishing her sentence, she had to pick up with something else directed to the phone and her brother Nathan.

Matt was quiet through her speedy response to his question. Okay, so apparently her brother worked somewhere with really good medical or something like that. Adria was talking on the phone with him now, though, so he decided to leave her to speak. Instead, he took a look out the window to make sure that Alex wasn't about to look back. Of course, if Alex really did come back, there was no guarantee that Matt would know about it. That person was mysterious and shifty. It made Matt nervous just thinking about it.

Ender had found an unobtrusive corner to settle down in and appeared to be resting. Ghosts didn't sleep, really, so he was doing something similar to try to regain some of his energy. Gama had settled down as well, croaking slightly as he watched Adria talk rapidly. Shida had also slipped inside, having been of little help outside, and hopped up on the couch. Although she wanted to try curling up in Matt's lap, he was wet and she wrinkled her nose slightly at the thought of getting wet, herself.

Cerberus, who had disappeared for the moment, came back from the direction of the bathroom where his teeth had found purchase in a pink and grey towel; he brought it to Matt to help him dry off and feel a bit warmer. The towel was semi-warm because it had been sitting next to a heater and was dragged over by a mobile heater, but it may or may not have been enough. Cerberus could radiate more heat for him if he wanted, though. Of course Matt could also use it as something to sit on rather than the couch if he wanted, folding it up and sitting on it so he didn't soak the couch. Again, Cerberus really didn't care what Matt did with it. He just brought a towel for him.

After a brief explanation, Adria was hanging up the phone and hopping over to their security system, turning it back on so if anyone (Alex) tried to get in they would be alerted immediately.

The sudden appearance of the angry-looking dog Pokémon with a towel surprised Matt slightly, but he accepted the warm item with a soft but grateful 'thank you.' Using it first to dry himself off a little, he spread it on the couch and sat down, glad that he wasn't spreading water everywhere he touched and could now sit down and rest for a moment. It appeared that he was still a little short of breath and his ribs were still aching. It was taking more rest than he thought it would to recover from his sudden, forced dip in the pond in Adria's back yard.

"You know... the longer I hang around, the more likely it is that Alex will come back and attack you." Now that this Alex person had seen Matt with Adria, Adria was in danger. Matt had associated with Adria and Alex had seen. That meant that Adria was now within a very dangerous person's sights. The longer Matt stuck around, the more likely it was that Adria would be put in danger.

The hound gave a soft growl, though not out of anger or irritation as he stalked away to find another towel for his dripping wet trainer. Adria tugged off her shirt – though had a cami underneath, so there was nothing to reveal and there was nothing to really make Matt feel uncomfortable – and rung her shirt out in the kitchen sink. "And I'm still not letting you out of this house," she stated firmly. "I understand why you feel so concerned about dragging others into your troubles and your concern for others falling victim to Alex's attacks. But I'm still not letting you go out on your own because of it."

She'd already been seen with Matt and was therefore already associated with him to some extent. And she already planned to one day go to Johto and call him up and travel a bit in the future. They'd be associated with one another either way. They already were and there was no changing that, especially when Adria went straight to Matt's aid almost right away. "Someone'll be here any minute."

Matt sighed, raking a hand through his wet hair. "Figured you'd say that," he huffed, slightly irritable that this had happened again. This was the whole reason he hadn't wanted to associate with Adria or anyone else, but Ender had been so insistent on the fact that Matt needed to start making friends again. He couldn't let the past gnaw at him forever and that had been exactly what he had been doing. "Just... warning you, you know..."

Alex was a very dangerous person and this wasn't the first time that Matt had been attacked. It was why both Ender and Matt had hinted at 'trouble' following them around. It seemed that this Alex had a personal fixation with Matt and liked to torment him and anyone that came in contact with him. The same courtesy extended to Tary, Matt's little sister, which was why Matt was so eager to find her. The more he thought about her, the more he worried. What if Alex had already found her? What if she was hurt? What would Matt do if his little sister was hurt because he couldn't get to her in time?

Cerberus returned with the second semi-warm towel for his trainer. A few moments later someone appeared out of thin air in Adria's back yard, knocking at the window with a Hypno at his side. Adria immediately let him in after deactivating the security for the back door. This man was tall and, despite being a foreigner, a man with wavy blond hair and sea-blue eyes, when he spoke his Japanese was flawless. "Nathan said you had a bit of a troublesome intrusion?" he asked, stepping into the house and shedding his tan trench coat, hooking it on the back of the dining room chair. "What's the problem?"Adria pointed over to Matt. The foreigner strode over.

Matt frowned at the sight of the stranger and seemed incredibly uncomfortable. He shook his head slightly. "I'm fine. Adria scalded her foot, though." Matt had been at the water at the time of the Scald attack, but had been too close to the Tentacruel to be damaged by the attack that had mostly affected the area of the water that Adria was in. His only injuries were his ribs and the rather obvious, black bruises that had formed on his arm. They formed fast and it was clear that he had been squeezed tighter than anyone had realized when the Tentacruel had a grip on him. Whatever he said, it obviously hurt and he was only trying to get out of being looked at by the foreign doctor.

The man turned back to look at Adria, who in turn showed him her left foot. It was only red and looked slightly swollen, but not too much, and the pain wasn't always present. "Run that under cool water for about 10 or 15 minutes or until the pain begins to subside. Cool water, not cold. Wrap loosely in gauze and take pain pills when needed." Now it was Matt's turn, and he turned once again to face Matt. "That bruise doesn't spell out 'fine'. Allow me to look at it, please." He approached Matt once again, though halted a foot or two away. He wouldn't get any closer unless Matt said he could. But his eyes remained on the bruise. He could sense Matt's discomfort. There was no way that bruise and whatever else he was hiding wasn't painful for him. "Please, just let me look and see. Just from the darkness of that bruise it doesn't look at all comfortable. I'm a doctor, and a good one at that, or I wouldn't have been hired at all by the organization." He tried to talk Matt into letting him approach and inspect. "I guarantee I know what I'm doing."

Matt frowned, realizing that he had only delayed the man's attention. It took him a moment to decide, in which he tuned out the doctor, and he came to the conclusion that he wasn't really getting out of here without being looked at. It wasn't so much the doctor that bothered him; it was the fact that he was going to be removing his shirt in front of the two; no helping that at the moment, though. "Fine," he sighed, shifting slightly to remove his shirt.

He pulled the fabric off, wincing slightly when the motion necessitated that he raise his arms over his head. When he had the sodden black fabric off, it became much clearer why he had been resistant. Underneath the black bruises circling his torso – seriously, he was lucky the Tentacruel hadn't broken or cracked any ribs – there were scars littering his body. They ranged from long and smooth to short and torn. They gave him a more ragged appearance, but the worst, by far, was the dark mark on the left side of his chest. A large, bold 'A' inside a circle appeared to have been burned into his skin. It was a brand.

The doctor instantly knew why he'd been so hesitant. Before Adria could even speak up in horror, he spoke up first to get her out of the room. One less person may make him feel a bit better. "Go change and soak your foot Adria," he ordered. His tone gave Adria the feeling that this was something she shouldn't argue with nor resist. Doing as she was told, she ran up the stairs to her room to change out of her wet clothes; all the while, Matt's horribly scarred body clear on the front of her mind.

Going back to Matt, the man ignored the horrifying scars for the most part and knelt down to better inspect the bruises on the boy's body. "You're sitting up so they're not broken. That's some bad bruising, though. On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is the pain? Be honest with me, Matt."

Matt seemed to feel better when Adria left the room. He hadn't wanted her to see that; he hadn't wanted anyone to see that. These scars, this brand, they were all marks left on him by Alex. Marks of pain and shame and he'd rather forget them. It seemed he was relieved for Adria departure, though, and the doctor's avoidance of the issue. "No more than a five." It wasn't the worst bruising he'd ever received and it was far from being the worst injuries he'd ever had; the scars were proof enough of that. No, the bruises were just irritating him whenever he took too deep a breath. "What can you do for a few bruises?" Matt wasn't exactly savvy on medical information. He knew a few things, like any on-the-road trainer ought to know, but it was usually the most rudimentary, basic information for the most basic of wounds.

The doc thought for a moment about the scale pain measurement. "Well, just remember this; bruised ribs and broken ribs are treated the same way. You're going to need to take pain relievers when needed. Ice these bruises for 15 to 20 minutes at a time, 3 to 4 times a day. These will be healed in about 3 to 4 weeks. I advise no strenuous activities that involve using your ribs, as well. Same for your arm. Really, I would say stay home and relax, but if you must be somewhere, take it slow and easy. I don't exactly know what happened to you for you to be so bruised up _and_ give Adria a red foot. Quite frankly, I am curious about it and also bout these scars of yours, but I won't ask you to divulge that information." He switched to the arm. "How does your arm feel? The blood circulation is okay?"

"It was a Tentacruel." Matt offered a small piece of information about what had happened to them, but otherwise didn't elaborate. "And sorry, but I can't be sitting still just yet." There was someone that he needed to find before Alex caught up to her and he'd be damned if something bad happened while he rested and laid around for a few bruised ribs. "My arm is fine. Nothing unusual." Of course, it was just as bruised and sore as his ribs, but he would be fine. Bruises didn't scare him and they wouldn't deter him from setting out onto the road no matter what the doctor said.

A slight chuckle escaped the foreign man's lips. "I see. So you're a persistent young man. In my country we call people like you 'rücksichtslos'**," his accent changed to a very heavy German accent. "Of course there is nothing wrong with that. If you must be somewhere then I cannot stop you. But I must insist you take it easy and don't do anything stupid that will cause your ribs even more pain, either." He dug into his coat pocket and pulled out two things: a case of pills and a card. "Here's some pain medication. If you have some, take these anyway. And here's my card. It's got my number on it, so give me a call if you're in trouble and don't want other doctors trying to prod answers out of you about your scars. In my line of work, everyone keeps secrets for good reason. I won't ask about these scars, even if I am a bit curious; that I can promise you. You can just give me a call, no questions asked except for your location. Or you can toss the card: doesn't matter. 'Kay?"

With a slight hesitance, Matt accepted the card and the bottle of pills that had been produced for him. He scanned the card politely, genuinely interested in this man that seemed so willing to let his scars go and let him do what he needed to do despite the injuries he had sustained. "... Thank you. I'll be sure to keep your card, doc." It was a round-about way of Matt offering his acceptance of the doctor and his advice, as well as his thanks for both the treatment and the kind offer. The pain medication was sure to come in handy for when he was traveling with such dark bruises and he was thankful for the offer.

Something crossed Matt's mind, but he held his tongue on the question that had suddenly formed in his head. Just where did Adria's brother work to have access to private doctors willing to hop out onto the field suddenly? However, he chose to offer the doctor the same courtesy that had been offered to him. It was slightly unlikely that Matt would get a straight answer about where this man worked, but he figured it really wasn't important and it was none of his business. Like the doc said, some people keep secrets for a good reason.

"Good," the doc grinned. "And if you need more pills, running to about any store with get you those. And call me Benn, or Doc. Benn, if you must." He was glad that Matt had decided to keep the card. "Do you have a spare set of clothing? Otherwise Cerbs will fetch you something from the old clothing bin that Nathan fails to donate away every year." Failure wasn't an option for Nathan, unless it was a bin of old clothes. "Your clothes should be thrown in the dryer before you go anywhere, I will tell you that."

Just then, Adria poked her head down the stairs. "Matt, what's your sister's name? Full name?" She asked. "And what does she look like now? Hair color, height, age, etc..." these questions were vey sudden, but she had good reason to ask these things.

Matt seemed like he was about to answer Benn, but Adria's sudden interruption distracted him and he looked over at her in utter confusion. Such specific questions; he wasn't sure why she wanted such specific information, but it wasn't really anything he was too uncomfortable with sharing. "Uh... Taria. Taria Ruby Sanders. She's... 11 now, I think. I don't know her exact height, or weight, but she's a petite girl. Maybe three and a half feet tall?" It sounded more like a question than anything. "Black hair, grey-blue eyes. Wears glasses. Why?" He fidgeted slightly, aware that he hadn't yet replaced his shirt and he needed to fetch his dry, yet slightly more dirty, clothes from his bag. It had been dropped somewhere along the way, so he needed to find it first.

"Is she someone you are looking for? And is she connected to the attack?" Benn asked.

"Matt's searching for her. Things aren't very... good for them. The road, I mean." Adria avoided looking at his scars while speaking to Benn, but it was hard. "At the moment we don't know where she is. But we need to find her before something happens."

"I understand," Benn dipped his head. "No more questions. I'll be in contact a bit later, then." Adria owed Matt an explanation. "Matt, I'll be back with results a bit later, an hour tops. I suggest you stick around and take it easy and eat something warm after you change." Cerberus had wandered off again In the midst of the talk, but he came back from the back, having Matt's bag dragging along the carpet and toward him. He used the doggy-door, which wasn't blocked off and locked. "And don't eat anything Adria makes: you'll die." He added.

Matt seemed incredibly confused by now. Everyone in the house seemed to know something he did and it was starting to creep him out a little. He wasn't especially unnerved by the warning not to eat Adria's food; he'd had plenty of experience with that, so he just sort of nodded numbly as he accepted his bag from Cerberus. "Thanks." He didn't really know who he was thanking at the moment; was it just Cerberus, or had Adria and Benn just done him a favor? He didn't know and he didn't really want to hurt himself trying to solve a puzzle that was missing a few pieces. Instead, he focused on pulling out a spare pair of clothes, the plain ones he had been wearing yesterday, and pulled a shirt over his head. The bruises ached when he did so, but it was worth it to cover up the scars that seemed to have drawn some attention from the two in the room.

Benn smiled to Matt. He could understand his confusion; he was there once. All in due time. He was sure Adria would explain and talk him through her brother's work in the organization that had remained nameless. "Right. I will be back." With that, the Hypno that had been minding its own business in the corner quietly appeared by Benn's side, then they were gone a second later, using the Hypno's psychic powers to teleport.

"Tell me when you're done changing and I'll throw those in the dryer for you." Adria quickly hopped off the steps and dashed through the living room and to the hallway where, tucked away in the closet next to the bathroom was a door that was actually a mini laundry room where the washer and dryer were stacked.

Matt watched them go, left in something of a stupor. After a moment, he stood and followed Adria to the hallway so he could borrow the bathroom for a moment to finish changing and make sure everything was alright. At least his balance had returned after spending a little time sitting down and resting. It took him only a few moments to change and, with the towel he had brought with him from the couch, dry himself off a little more. He emerged from the bathroom after only a minute or so and located Adria, offering her his wet clothes. "So... care to tell me what all that was about?" The poor boy seemed lost about the whole thing. He had no idea what was going on, where Benn really came from, or what Adria's brother did for a living. It was all a mystery to him and he wanted to know just what he was getting himself into now.

Adria smiled sheepishly, accepting the clothing from him and throwing them in the dryer with hers. She still had to soak her foot in running water. "It's a long explanation and almost crazy." She thought of where to start. "Benn and Nathan work for an organization that is virtually unknown by the public. They're mainly based in Viridian disguised under the occupation of being a Lava Lamp factory. Long story short, this organization can be considered an elite police force, only they specialize in taking down organizations like Team rocket and the such. Secret agents, so to say. Nathan's kind of a rookie. Working for them means being involved and being involved means being targeted sometimes, hence the security systems around here." She motioned to the doors, leaning against the door of the laundry room. "All Benn has to do is plug in Taria's information and cross-reference it with video footage from the Pokémon Centers and registered rooms to her and we have a general idea of where and when she last checked in or out. Creepy, I know but because of this trouble that's chasing you, this seemed like the best option."

Matt listened intently, giving her his full attention. This was important, and it answered just about all the questions he had been thinking about before. "So your brother is part of a secret police that work to take down Team Rocket and have access to security footage from Pokémon Centers and any kind of information they need?" It seemed a little far-fetched, but with the trouble that was following him, it wasn't hard to believe such a thing; he needed to believe if it he wanted his little sister to be okay.

"I wish I would have known about such an organization sooner. If so, maybe Alex would have been put behind bars long ago." Too long had he been running from trouble. It had followed him for a long time and the police had been able to do very little for such a threat. Alex always stayed low profile; even though Alex had climbed onto the roof of Nathan's home, the security cameras around the house wouldn't have caught the face hiding beneath the jacket's hood. "The police haven't been all that helpful."

Adria nodded. "I know what you mean. This organization tries to keep a low profile themselves. They only present themselves to someone who's caught their eye. Nathan, a year ago, caught their eye when he stopped an ambush on the house by Rockets. Their stealing spree has increased since then, but a year ago they had their sights set on his, Maddie's and my own Pokémon, which was a lot. I wasn't as experienced as I am now. They kept an eye on him, and then one day approached him in town and spoke to him." She explained. "It's more behind the scenes, so it understandable why you hadn't known. You likely wouldn't have known unless you caught their eye." This little explanation also explained her motives of blowing up the base yesterday.

Matt nodded in understanding. It was a low profile organization. Matt hadn't done anything particularly noble to fight the Rockets or any of the other bad groups he'd run across; mostly he'd just been trying to keep his head above water when dealing with the trouble. Was Alex part of the Rockets? Matt didn't rightly know, but it wouldn't seem all that far-fetched. "Regardless, I wish I had known sooner. Maybe now they'll have an eye on Alex."

Alex was dangerous, after all. Whether or not a part of the Rockets, that person had been known to kill people; had almost killed Matt. It partially explained why Matt hadn't wanted to stick around, but there was obviously more to the story than he was willing to tell. Something had happened in the past that had driven him to stay away from people, all because of something Alex had done.

Whether or not Alex was a Rocket or not Adria didn't know. She understood this Alex person was dangerous. From the scars on Matt's front, he or she was obviously a very dangerous person. "Unless a special request has been made, Alex wouldn't have been watched. Even if they are known to kill, if Alex was keeping a low profile it's unlikely they would have known. But I'll send in the security footage to them. Hopefully they can help keep Alex off your back... no, they should be able to keep an eye out for Alex. If there's a dangerous person out on the loose, regardless of being a Rocket or not, if the police are having difficulties catching them, then they'll step in. If Benn or Nathan aren't already accessing the security footage now, I'll send whatever footage in. But you're going to have to provide information if you know any."

Matt scowled slightly at the thought of having to speak of Alex to others. "Yeah..." Not exactly something he was comfortable with sharing, but he'd need to tell others about Alex so they had a chance at catching the murderer. "That's not going to be pleasant." It wasn't part of his past that he was very comfortable with sharing. Tary didn't know a whole lot about the situation beyond what she had been told – all this troublesome business had started before she was old enough to really remember – so it was up to Matt to tell others.

He turned and moved back to the living room to find himself a place to sit. First off, Adria probably deserved more of an explanation about just who they were dealing with before anything else. Adria had offered him an explanation of what was going on with Nathan's work and what they did, so one explanation deserved another in turn.

While he went to the living room, Adria went to the kitchen and pulled out the leftovers from the fridge: ramen and boiled vegetables. Setting out two bowls, Adria threw the leftovers in the microwave and, after quite a few beeps, got the machine working. Kitchen appliances weren't her forte. Shuffling back over to the living room, Adria claimed a seat on the floor next to the curled up Cerberus, cuddling into him to keep warm. He looked at her for a long moment before deciding to allow her to take his warmth and radiated more heat from his body. "Why not? If you want you can just write it down." Adria offered. If he didn't really want to tell anyone, then he didn't have to.

"It's just... not the most pleasant experience recounting information about Alex, but, I sort of owe you an explanation for dragging you into this mess. Plus, you told me about your brother's work, so it's really only fair." He took a deep breath to try and steel himself for the telling of this story. "She's been after me for years, now; me and Tary. Always staying quietly under the radar, she avoids the police and strikes whenever she thinks she has a clear shot at either of us. This is not the first time she's tried to kill me, and she managed to kill a good friend of mine just because he was my friend. I had a feeling that she had been following me lately, so I was trying to lose her; that's why I was so late in getting back to Kanto. I had thought she was gone for a while and went searching for my sister so we would be able to travel together; she's a lot more vulnerable on her own than I am... Ender's been trying to get me to make friends again for a few years now, but it's not easy when you've got someone like Alex on your tail... If you didn't get her face on the security cameras, I can provide information on what she looks like. Don't have a picture, though."

Adria cocked her head to the side, listening to his story. Now she understood why he was being distant and didn't seem to want to interact and grow close. Of course she knew it was because of Alex, but the reasoning behind it had eluded her until now, as he presented the explanation. "I get where you're coming from. At first I thought you were just a jerk," even if she found him rather cute, "but now this explains why you've been distant and rather unwilling to make friends and stick around." Since she'd once killed a friend of Matt's, it was understandable why he didn't want any friends. But this didn't seem to matter to her. Earlier, she'd said 'we' when telling Benn about looking for Tary. Adria had a bag packed already upstairs. Despite Matt's wish to not stick around, even after telling Adria his reason why, she had no intentions of leaving this matter alone. She was going with him.

Matt didn't seem bothered by the fact that she thought he had been a jerk; he had been told many times that he came off that way while he was attempting to shun people to get them to stay away. "I don't really know what happened to her to make her this way. I knew her before she got all crazy and violent; she had never acted this way before. I don't think Tary properly remembers, she was only like 4 at the time, but Alex just came home one day and went nuts on the two of us. My dad couldn't stop her. It was sheer luck we survived that time because she just sort of left us and sauntered off to who-knows-where." Matt had dropped a hint he hadn't exactly meant to say when he mentioned that 'Alex came home.' He hardly seemed to have noticed the slip of the tongue, though he had also mentioned knowing Alex before she had gone all crazy.

"Wait-" Adria waved her hand a few times. "She 'came home'?" Adria repeated. "Matt, who was sh-" A loud thump caused her to jump in her sitting spot. Flustered, Adria tripped over to the kitchen and threw the microwave door open. The lid had popped off and the broth had splattered all over the insides of the microwave. Adria, for one, didn't belong in a kitchen at all. The last time something went boom in the microwave it had to be replaced, and that had only been a week or so ago. "Who is she to you, Matt?" She called out from the kitchen, continuing what she had been saying. "You said she came home and your dad couldn't do anything. Don't tell me she's..."

Matt was also startled by the sudden noise from the kitchen and suddenly flashed back to what Benn had told him: don't eat anything that Adria cooks. Did reheated food count? Best be on the safe side; he stood and joined her in the kitchen. The question, at the same time, made him cringe slightly, but there was no getting out of something like that. "My mother." He finished her sentence, observing the mess she had made of the microwave. Unwilling to dwell on his unpleasant familial relationship with a mad-woman, he instead tried to change the subject. "Do you need help?"

Adria cringed from his answer. She wanted to say something, but held her tongue. "I was never really good at cooking and the appliances really hate me," she groaned. She never understood why she was virtually incapable of cooking an edible dish. She was prone to buying take-out or mooching off a friend when she met one along the road. Adria was notorious for almost hospitalizing her friends that tried to eat what she cooked. Since buying food cost money, she had to challenge many trainers and win the money, or compete in tournaments. Although she had won very few times, there was consolation prize money. Adria always longed for the days and meals when returning home for a while, and was thanking every one of her lucky stars that food at a Pokémon center was free provided she had a room to stay in.

"Do you have any ingredients? I can cook." They were waiting around in this house anyway and Adria wasn't going to let him leave, so he might as well make them a meal. Although he was slightly uncomfortable in another person's house, especially trying to cook in an unfamiliar kitchen, it was worth a shot. He hadn't eaten this morning, anyway.

Adria had been attempting to heat up something to eat, so she was doing it for him, was just hungry, or was attempting to feed them both. In any case, it would probably be better if he cooked something up. At least it would keep Adria from destroying anything; the microwave was looking a little worse for the wear on the inside thanks to the ramen and broth.

Adria nodded. "If you're sure, you can if you want. Um... the veggies and all that are in the fridge. Up here in this cupboard, that one and this one have our foods, seasonings are above the stove. I guess I'll clean up the microwave." Thoroughly humiliated by her lack of proper and basic kitchen abilities, Adria found some paper towels and cleaner, sulking inwardly as she did so.

* * *

Further off into the distance, well away from the lenses of the security cameras, stood a tall figure. He stared at the house with the lovely white fence and blue-painted door, his ebony locks swept over his eyes. His features were young; he couldn't be any older than his early 30's. He looked remarkably out of place with dark blue jeans, black converse and a black jacket in the middle of a grassy area with trees and blooming flowers. But no one seem to be around to make that judgment. Smirking to himself, he leaned casually against a tree, his blue gaze sweeping to the Umbreon gnawing on an apple. He looked so innocent, trying to devour his apple, almost struggling to do so. The Umbreon was relatively young at heart, his mind susceptible to the influence of the younger generation and the words 'Time to play'. He liked to play.

There was a figure, lounging in the branches of a tree not too far away. The worn grey jacket that covered the figure was baggy and loose. The hood was still up, hiding most of the face in shadows. It was Alex, again. It appeared that she hadn't retreated very far from the scene of her crime. She had seen the doctor man arrive and was quite curious about him, as well as the girl that had helped her son escape from her Tentacruel. This figure, however, was very intriguing. She wasn't sure how long he had been standing there, leaning against that tree, but he made her very curious. Perhaps he would be a lovely new target.

The Espeon from before was practically wrapped around her neck, lying across her shoulders. She remained in that position even as Alex launched herself nimbly from the branches and straight towards the stranger. Touching the ground only once, and only with one foot, she leaped at him knees first, barreling straight into his back to take him down to the ground. "What do we have here?"

The man had been a bit lost on his thoughts to notice the woman at all, caught off his guard and falling forward into the grass and dirt. He made a soft noise in protest and threw a glance over his shoulder to see just who it was hat had suddenly decided to sit on him.

The Umbreon was up in seconds; crouched down, ready to attack the woman and her Espeon. He didn't appreciate her sudden appearance nor did he enjoy the sight of her sitting there. That was his spot!  
"Y-you're the one who was over there a bit ago!" He exclaimed, glaring up at her. "Thanks to you, I'm behind schedule!" He growled.

"Behind schedule?" The voice was feminine; sharp and calm. This stranger had intrigued her with his sudden exclamation. She shifted slightly, moving to sit cross-legged on his back."Now just what do you mean by saying something like that?" Her attention had been caught and she didn't seem too intent on hurting him at the moment. She wanted to see what he would say; why he had reacted the way he had.

The Espeon reacted to the growling, cracking an eye open lazily to examine the other Eeveelution. It looked angry about Alex sitting on the man's back, but the Espeon didn't seem to care in the slightest. If it actually attacked, that was another story, but it was just growling right now.

The man clenched his fists, reining his temper a bit. "Your little attack on that boy caused my plans to be thrown off. I was waiting until he left." This man had motives that were set back because of this woman. "Because you wouldn't wait until your prey left, my plans for that girl have been put on hold. The last thing I need is a witness or someone around to help out." The man grumbled. At the moment he couldn't sense much of a threat from this woman. His almost-sinister vibe was gone, replaced with pure annoyance. Dyavol, the Umbreon, was no longer innocent and ready to play, but was rather upset and very unhappy that this woman had sat on his trainer. "And will you get off?!" He hissed out, attempting to just roll her off. "Why are you sitting on me anyway? There are loads more ways to approach someone, ya know."

"Well, I was going to attack you, maybe slit your throat, but you're just far too interesting." The woman showed no signs of moving just yet, easily staying in place as he attempted to roll her off. "And you're a quite comfortable perch. Terribly sorry for upsetting your plans, though. I know it's just a pain when you can't do what you want, when you want." There was genuine sincerity in her voice. A click of the tongue and a snap of the fingers occurred and suddenly Alex was leaning over the man, practically whispering in his ear.

"Tell you what: it looks like your girl and my guy are going to stick together from now on. That's the way it seems to me, at least. So I've got an idea to help make it up to you. I have another target I want to catch; I want to get to her before anyone else does. If you help me track her down and nab her, we can send word to my boy. He'll come running the moment he hears of her danger. If the girl tags along, great. If she doesn't, she's open, fair game. So, what do you say?"

The man listened to her plot and thought it through. Although he wasn't into the idea of looking for someone else for her, if it would somehow get the boy away, that was fine. He didn't particularly like when others were around. He liked to target the girl, really. The brother was usually away at work so there was no reason to go for him. If he did try and go after the brother, he'd be thrown behind bars in an instant if he weren't killed. "Get off me and you have a deal. Dyavol's got dibs on where you're sitting and it's only making him upset." Although there was no doubt he would spring into action should he be attacked. Dyavol, however, was a child at heart and, like all children, liked to play. He liked sitting on his trainer the most, too. His trainer normally didn't care, either. He knew Dyavol wouldn't grow up. He knew Dyavol, but he didn't know this woman.

Alex grinned widely, springing off the man with ease and grace. From her standing position, she reached down to pull him up off the ground. "Great! It's been a long time since I worked with anyone. Sorry for my sudden intrusion. Now that we've gotten things worked out, time for more proper introductions. My name's Alex; care to tell me yours?" She extended her hand to him, waiting to hear a name. It would be a pleasure to finally get to work with someone that had similar interests. Alex was very excited to get on the way to her next target. With this man's help, it would be easier than ever to nab little Tary and draw Matt and the other girl straight into firing range. It was going to be great; the very thought of all that fun send her heart skittering and her blood pumping.

For a moment, he stared at the hand, debating on taking the hand and shaking it. But they were partners now, he guessed. He'd never worked with anyone before. Not another human being, at least. "James," he said, finally taking her hand and shaking it. "My name is James." James and Alex, Alex and James. The pair had a bit of a ring to it. "I reckon your boy will have no idea I'm around. Be a bit of a surprise. She likes to keep me a secret, and I would have preferred it that way, but I guess there's no helping it. If that brat's going to tag along with your prey, no doubt I'd get irritable and go in regardless of his presence or not." James still sounded rather displeased, retracting his arm and folding it with the other. Dyavol and gone back to gnawing on his apple, only this time was at James' s feet. He occasionally looked up, curious about the woman and her Espeon (mostly the Espeon), but did nothing else. His protective aura had faded away, replaced once again with his usual innocent one.

"Oh, I do like springing surprises on other people. This is going to be great fun, I think. Now that we're working together, I think we can have twice the fun. Maybe you can try branching out. It's fun hurting a variety of people. It's especially fun when you're dealing with a pair of friends, because whatever happens to one also effects the other." It certainly sounded like Alex was speaking from experience, and she was. Matt's dead friend was testament of that fact. "Anyway, no time to be dilly-dallying around here. I need to track down my target. A little girl, probably a town or two ahead of here. I'd very much like your help in looking for her, if you please. Her tiny guard dog could probably smell me a mile away, and I'd prefer to avoid her panicking and getting the attention of any near-by trainers." Alex probably could have done this on her own if she wanted or needed, but now she had a partner. Having a partner might make this whole thing much easier for her.

The man smirked, pulling out a Pokéball. "Just lead us there and let us know what she looks like, and I'll have Syler scope her out. After locating her, I'll get her for you. In turn we'll need something to tell the brats we have her, but we'll get to that part later. Just lead on, and everything will fall into place, I guarantee you." With a sneer, he pocketed the Pokéball and signaled to Dyavol that it was time to go. He stood obediently, his tail wagging, clearly excited for whatever adventure they would be going on today.

Dyavol was truly an innocent Pokémon. His trainer was mean to the girl, but he was treated with love and was played with. He was truly too innocent to partake in the horrors of James' hobby; he just ran the errands and provided him a loyal companion, and a heater at night, even if he found his face often smothered into the ground or the Pokémon crushing his lungs.

"Goody! Let's go. I think I know where she is. I poked around looking for her before I came back for Matt. So, I think I know the general area. I'll tell you what she looks like on the way there and then we can figure out where to take her. Oh this is going to be so fun, I can't wait!" Alex seemed beyond giddy as she began to lead the way. They were probably going to need to fly, but they were going to get to Tary before the others no matter what it took.

* * *

**Reckless

And, we introduce our second main villain, James! We'll certainly have fun with these two.


	5. Kidnapping

**A/N**

**A bit of a shorter chapter in store for this time. But this is where we more properly introduce Tary!**

******Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

* * *

**Chapter 5:** Kidnapping

Tary looked just as Matt had described her. She was a petite girl, small for even her age. Her black hair was pulled back into a pony-tail to keep it neat and contained while she was constantly on the go. Getting out and exploring was doing wonders for her. Even though she was alone, besides her Pokémon, and often felt lonely, it was a great experience. Traveling the region and training her Pokémon friends were good for her, even if it had just turned into a very dangerous journey. She wasn't aware that Alex was back in Kanto and looking to attack her favorite prey again.

A bouncy, hyper Growlithe bounced around her feet. Despite his darting and weaving, Tary managed to avoid completely tripping over him; it was a skill born of much practice. She continued walking, taking Route 6 south to Vermilion city. Already she had earned a few badges and evolved a few of her Pokémon. Things were looking up for her.

James used the Pokémon he'd mentioned to scope the route and look for her. They got rather pleasing results and that was when James took his chance to get her guard down. Taking out a tennis ball and bouncing it a few times, he threw it into the bushes and to the other side in the middle of the route. James uttered the words 'Time to play' and Dyavol bounced up and right after the ball, quite eager to get it. He loved playing ball. It was a lot of fun to him.

James exited the bushes, having shed his coat a bit away so the scent of Alex didn't linger all too much on him, and looked like just some not-sinister man playing with his Umbreon. Dyavol returned the ball, standing on hind legs, hoping to get his trainer to throw the ball again. He did, and this time down the road where it bounced, and would probably bounce somewhere in front of the little girl, Dyavol chasing after it in pure glee.

Tary was not all that startled by the sight of another trainer. Other trainers were rather common along the routes from town to town. Battling with them was often quite enjoyable. Still, Tary wasn't very outgoing and had been taught to be at least somewhat cautious around strangers.

Waka didn't seem to have the same inhibitions as Tary, however, and bounded forward in glee at the sight of another playful dog-like Pokémon. Maybe the dog would play with him! He barked, trying to get the Umbreon's attention so they could play together. Waka hadn't caught any scent of Alex, so neither the Growlithe nor the human were tipped off to anything dangerous going on. Tary stopped where she was to watch the exchange between the two dogs just in front of her.

Dyavol's eyes lit up in excitement as the puppy Pokémon gleefully approached him, calling out he wanted to play. Dyavol responded by jumping into a crouching stance, his tail wagging, watching him with the goofiest look, ready to pounce on the other Pokémon and wrestle playfully with him. Dyavol loved to play and liked to play with other Pokémon the most. He wanted to play with the puppy. He looked nice and he looked like playing would be fun with him. "Dyavol, what have you found?" James trotted up behind his Pokémon. "Found someone to play with?" he smiled. Dyavol was a child at heart.

Waka barked eagerly, dropping down into the same sort of stance with his butt in the air and his tail wagging furiously. He took the initiative, pouncing upon the other dog with a playful growl and nipping at him. It was quite the adorable sight; it made Tary smile to see that her Growlithe had found a friend to play with for a little while. The fire Pokémon had gotten used to playing with the other Pokémon that Tary carried with her, but none of them were dogs like this Umbreon, Dyavol, was. Besides, the other two around Waka in age were both somewhat disagreeable and only rarely chose to play vigorously with the puppy.

Dyavol growled playfully right back and rolled over, twisting and nipping at his ear playfully. "Sorry about that, little miss," James began, approaching her a bit. "Dyavol likes to play. A lot. He'll never pass up the opportunity to play with someone, especially a young puppy Pokémon. He's a child at heart, y'know? Dyavol won't ever grow up, I don't think," he chuckled. The sad part was that it was true. Dyavol would probably never grow out of this habit of playing with strange Pokémon when the opportunity presented itself. He loved playing with Pokémon.

Tary politely kept her distance as he moved closer, staying out of arm's reach of the man. Mostly, Tary did that with everyone, except her own family. Matt and her father were the only ones she got close to; she mostly kept her distance from the strangers, which was certainly understandable. However, despite her physical distance, Tary smiled a little bit at the stranger. "Oh, um... that's okay. Waka likes playing with everyone." Waka was friendly with just about every person and Pokémon that came along, as long as he didn't get the sense that they were dangerous. Right now, Dyavol was occupying his attention and James didn't come off as anything more than another traveling trainer playing with his Pokémon.

James smiled. "Dyavol does, as well. He'd play with anything that moves. He doesn't have a single bad bone in his body, which makes him the ideal Pokémon to have when meeting people," he paused for a moment, watching the events that unfolded, a sinister smirk sliding across his features.

Dyavol rolled over and bolted from Waka. Something red flashed by and took out the small puppy before Dyavol could go back and pounce; then, the red figure flashed behind Tary and wrapped its metallic arms tightly around her small frame so she couldn't escape nor reach her Pokéballs. Its wings buzzed lightly, holding the little trainer to its cold metal body, pointing its pincers in her face threateningly. Dyavol looked upset, looking between his trainer and Tary. Play time was over?

Tary had been so busy watching the two puppies play that she hadn't noticed the sudden arrival of the new Pokémon. The moment it struck Waka, Tary was on alert, but by then it was too late. "Waka!" And then the arms were around her and dangerous pincers threatened her. Whatever she had been about to say or scream died in her throat as her body began to tremble in the tight metal grasp of the Pokémon behind her. What was going on? She couldn't reach her Pokémon; without their help, she didn't stand a chance against this Pokémon. The threatening smirk on the man's face sent chills down her spine; this was his doing. What did he want from her?

Waka had been knocked into unconsciousness by the metal Pokémon, leaving him lying on the side of the route. He would be no help in taking down this much stronger Pokémon. Even if he had been awake, he probably wouldn't even stand a chance.

Dyavol left his trainer's side and stepped over to Waka's side, nosing the little puppy, his ears flattened, sad that it had to end like this again. He was having so much fun playing with the Pokémon, too. But his trainer and that woman who sat on his trainer, taking his spot, had plans for this girl. "I hear your brother's been looking for you, Tary," James began, his tone very different from his previous one. He took a few steps closer to her, analyzing her for a long moment, "and we plan to reunite you with him. I'm only here to catch you. Don't worry, though, I have no reason to do much more to you after this, my target is someone else. I'm just fetching you for someone," and she could probably guess who.

Tary continued to tremble, watching the intimidating man with wide eyes as he moved closer to her. His dark tone and that sinister smirk on his face were making her even more uncomfortable and the mention of the 'someone' that he was fetching her for made her pale dramatically. "W-what?" She practically squeaked, unable to keep her voice from trembling in terror. Tary wasn't sure exactly what was going on. Alex, obviously the 'someone' this man had referred to, had apparently teamed up with someone and they attacked her and planned to reunite her with her brother? That could only be a bad thing. The shock of being grabbed began to wear off and she began to struggle against the tight hold of the metal Pokémon. The struggles were next to useless, but she also took a deep breath and opened her mouth to scream. Maybe someone near-by would hear her and come to investigate.

James was suddenly at her side, clamping a hand over her mouth and wagging his finger. "Oh no, I can't let you do that little miss. Otherwise we couldn't reunite you with your brother if someone came to help you." If he let the brat escape, he wouldn't be able to lure in the other two and take his prize for the hard work he'd put into finding this little girl and catching her.

Sliding the glasses off her face, James tossed them to the side, causing the glass to break against a rock. They would be of use later in this game. He lowered himself to her level and leaned in close, tugging painfully on her ear. "Now, will you come quietly without force, or should I knock you up-side the head and wake you up later in some dark room?" he hissed quietly in her ear. "If it was me, I think I'd prefer to cooperate; I guess that's entirely up to you."

Tary's eyes widened further and sudden terror welled up in her again as the man approached her very quickly, very suddenly. She attempted to draw away from him, but the metal surface behind her was unyielding. A whimper escaped her as her glasses were suddenly removed; her chances of escaping this herself had just dropped further. Her eyes were bad and without her glasses she wouldn't make it far if she were to get free and try to run. Regardless of this, and the sudden threat and painful tugging on her ear, she wiggled against the inescapable grasp of her captor Pokémon and tried her damnedest to sink her teeth into James's hand. Despite her obvious terror and naturally withdrawn personality, just letting herself give into this was far from the best idea. James was going to bring her straight to Alex, and Alex would do far more damage than anything this man was threatening her with. Even if there was the smallest chance to escape, she would strive for it.

James laughed at her feeble attempts, though was annoyed from her biting. "Silly little girl," he hissed maliciously in her ear, "you fail to understand the situation you're in: you're not going anywhere except with me. And there's nothing you can do about it." With that, he glanced up to the metallic creature holding the struggling girl with ease and nodded. With one of his claws, the Pokémon gave the back of her head a _thwack_ to knock her lights out for a while. Later she would likely wake up with a head-splitting headache, but whatever; James didn't seem to care.

The girl was out like a light after that. The strong strike against the back of her head left her unconscious and limp in the arms of the Pokémon that held her. She was going nowhere after that. Struggles had died and they no longer needed to worry about her escaping or calling for help; there was no one within earshot anyway. Now, James could return to Alex and hand over the lovely prize he had found along the route. After catching the girl and taking her where they wanted, they just needed to get word to the two trainers they were attempting to lure in. Shouldn't be too hard; Matt would come running the moment he found out his sister was in danger.

With a single movement, James swept the girl up and threw her over his shoulder, carrying her away and back towards Alex, recalling his trusty and very mean Scizor back into his Pokéball; his play time would come soon enough, but now was his time to simply wait. Dyavol picked up Waka by his scruff and dragged him back the way he came after his trainer, sad that he couldn't play with the Pokémon. Maybe when he woke up they could play more. It likely wouldn't happen, though. Dyavol was too innocent for his own good; he didn't realize that it would be very likely this Pokémon would no longer want to play with him since he was associated with the trainer who attacked and kidnapped him and his trainer.

Entering the bushes and walking further into the tree-line, James returned to where he'd left Alex. Along the way he'd picked up the broken pair of glasses, smiling to himself the entire time. "She's all yours. If you've nowhere to take her, I know of a place relatively nearby," James offered.

Alex had been leaning casually against one of the trees in the area, waiting patiently for James. She trusted him to get the work done. Even if he hadn't, it wouldn't have been too terribly complicated to snatch Tary up herself. It was just a little easier this way. She perked up at the mention of a place to take the girl James had just caught for her. "Oh!? Please, do tell. I didn't have any real idea of where we were going to go for this." While she spoke, she took the little girl off James's hands so he wouldn't have to carry her anymore. "And you're also welcome to join in on a little of my fun, if you'd like. I know your target is that other girl, the one with my boy, but I'm happy to share if you're interested." Alex was grinning underneath her hood, apparently more than pleased that she finally had her hands on what she wanted. That last time, with Matt, it had been her Tentacruel having all the fun.

A dark laughter escaped his person. "The place is quite banged up and very dusty. The halls are quite twisty, as well thanks to the left-over debris. It should suffice perfectly, in my opinion. I know my way around that god-forsaken place. It's been abandoned for many years, now and it's very unlikely that anyone will come bothering you and your little fun. As for my joining you; I must decline for you see, I'm not a hands-on type of guy. I prefer to watch as people writhe and I like to taunt them with horror stories of their loved-ones. However, Syler will be more than pleased to join you. He's one of the cruelest you'll ever meet." Another laugh. "He's been so bored for the longest time, waiting for that brat to finally be admitted out of the hospital after so long. Just last week she was released from the confines of the rattling beds and odious halls smelling of sickness, death, and really bad food. Or perhaps it was two weeks ago..." James tilted his head up as he pondered for a moment then shrugged. "Don't know: don't care."

"Not that long ago," Alex commented, her grin spreading a little wider at the thought of the girl in the hospital. "Well, too bad for her. I think you'll be sending her back very soon. We'll send mine along with her, as well. And I would be more than happy to include Syler in my games. Nothing enough to kill her of course; that's no fun at all! For now, please lead the way. I'm quite eager to see what place you've got that would suit our purpose so perfectly."

Alex was practically bouncing on her heels, Tary tossed over one shoulder and her Espeon resting peacefully on the other. She was excited; there was a whole new place to explore! She could find the perfect room to sequester herself and Tary in. It would be far away from the entrance; that would build up plenty of tension as the two trainers they lured in had to explore through the winding, debris-filled halls to figure out where Tary had been brought. It was a lovely setup and her blood was pumping at the thought. How exciting!

James smirked at her eagerness. He hadn't met anyone else quite so excited to get down and dirty their hands in a little blood since Syler. Syler was a twisted Pokémon, and he liked it. "This way, then," James led, turning to the west and beginning to walk. He was sure she'd like this place he had picked out. Personally, he hated the place, but loved it at the same time. He had his reasons for hating it just as he had his reasons for loving it. He knew this Alex woman would absolutely love it.

"Dyavol, stay here." He instructed, taking the puppy Pokémon out of his care and replacing him with the broken glasses. "I need you to delivery something for me, okay? Keep these glasses close and don't you dare lose them. We're going to return them to the owners brother, the boy traveling with our girl, okay?" Dyavol took the glasses gently by his teeth and nodded. "Good. When you return, I'll have an apple for you." After the small exchange, James disappeared further into the thick tree line, leading Alex away and leaving Dyavol to roam the dirt roads by himself until such time when the glasses were returned.


	6. The Abandoned Base

**A/N**

**Woo, chapter six! Yay! :D **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

* * *

**Chapter 6:** The Abandoned Base

A Dragonite touched down on the dusty path the led between Saffron and Vermillion. According to Benn, who had gotten whatever information he could from his work and returned to the two trainers at Nathan's home, Tary had been seen leaving Saffron city going south. There were no trainers on the route right now, for whatever reason. It seemed odd, but Matt wasn't willing to question the lack of trainers; maybe they just came at a bad time.

He hopped off of Kita's back, landing lightly and bracing his bruised ribs with one arm. They still ached and it still hurt to move around too much, so he was trying to be careful. He couldn't just sit still, though.; there had been news about his sister! She had to be somewhere around here, or in Vermilion. Hopefully, he could catch her before something bad happened or she left Vermilion going in some other direction.

Next to him there was another light thud against the dirt path. "She should be up on this road, according to Benn. We can't be very far," Adria grinned. Finally, Matt would be able to reunite with his sister. She'd be safer with her brother and her brother would be very happy, she was sure. "Let's check up ahead first. There's a bit of a hill that will slightly overlook the path a bit, so we should be able to see if someone's walking down it, or toward it. She's either got to be behind us or ahead of us." They could use Cerberus, the hound Pokémon, to track down scents and see who they lead to.

Matt agreed with a nod, looking up and down the path to make sure he didn't just miss her as they landed. No one was in sight, other than Adria, so off to the hill it was. He turned and headed that way, not bothering to recall Kita; she just trundled along after the two trainers on her hind legs, taking in the short route leisurely. Worried though she was about Tary, it had been a long time since Matt had been in Kanto and it was nice to see some familiar sights again. Matt, on the other hand, was completely focused on his goal; he was worried about his little sister and the sooner they found her, the better.

Releasing Cerberus, Adria followed after Matt quickly. Cerberus pointed his nose to the ground and followed any and every scent that was there. He could recognize a few: wild Pokémon that merely crossed the road, Matt's scent, Adria's scent, and Kita's scent. There were a few others that he recognized; one in particular seemed to be rather familiar to him indeed. His snarls were dark and threatening, and it caught Adria's attention. He was being unnaturally threatening and dark. Was there danger nearby?

The bushes just up ahead began to shuffle and shift a bit, rustling from whatever was in there. A black and yellow creature jumped out, pouncing on a few leaves. He didn't look at all threatening; just playing with the leaves, it looked like. The Umbreon didn't seem to notice the two trainers and the two Pokémon and continued to play. It was very unnatural to find one of these kinds of Pokémon in the wild.

Matt's attention was drawn first to Cerberus's dangerous growling, then to the loud rustling of leaves. What was that? Probably nothing more than a wild Pokémon; wild Pokémon were everywhere, hiding along the routes in the tall grass or just to the side and away from trainers. The sudden appearance of this rare Pokémon, however, had him halted to get a good look at it. He had stopped walking, head cocked to the side in confusion, staring it. "An Umbreon?" Didn't see those in the wild often. In fact, Matt had never seen one before. He'd seen Eevee and a few of the other Eeveelutions, but not this one. It looked innocent and playful enough; he wondered what it was doing out here.

Kita leaned down over her trainer to inspect the Pokémon that had just made an appearance. It seemed friendly, though out of place. Maybe they could figure out who this Pokémon belonged to and return him. Matt's single-mindedness for his current task, however, would force this issue wait until later. He snapped himself out of his confusion and instead made to move on. He was here to look for his sister, not hang around with some strange Pokémon.

The Umbreon stared up at Matt and Kita curiously then glanced over to the source of the growling and the look of horror on Adria's face. Cerberus didn't take kindly to this Eeveelution at all, regardless of how innocent and playful he was being right now. He was there for a reason, he knew it.

The Umbreon remembered what he was still along the side of the road and bounded up to Matt's side, jumping and biting the bottom of his shirt, tugging him to the side. He wanted Matt to stop and come see something. He tugged toward the bush he'd just pounced out of and tripped over. His head disappeared in the bush, but then it came back out with something clenched between his teeth. The part of the glasses that curved around the ear was between his teeth. He remembered he had to deliver this to them!

"Agh!" Matt was taken by surprise by the sudden weight on his shirt, dragging him to the side of the road. The Umbreon he had disregarded earlier had come back to drag him part way to the bushes on the side of the road. What could he possibly be trying to accomplish? Matt shook the Pokémon off his shirt, straightening up to alleviate the ache in his ribs. What he saw in the Umbreon's mouth, however, made him stop dead. "Th-those..." He reached out slowly, carefully, trying to take the broken glasses away from the Pokémon without being bitten should the Umbreon suddenly lash out.

Matt would recognize his sister's glasses anywhere, and seeing them broken and in the possession of some random Pokémon confirmed the worst. Something bad had happened and no one could tell him otherwise unless he saw his sister alive and healthy very soon. Something told him that wasn't going to happen, though.

Adria was almost hesitant to leave the spot she was in, but did so anyway and joined Matt, looking around rather cautiously. This Umbreon belonged to someone cruel and if this Umbreon was out and about, wandering around, then its owner had to be around. If his owner was around, the other Pokémon had to be around as well.

"Are those her glasses?" Adria asked quietly. This was bad; she knew who the owner of this Umbreon was. If it was him who had her... well, it was a whole new story. It was recent, or his Umbreon would have been long gone. This man that had her was cruel, even if his faithful Pokémon was really cute and innocent. But the other Pokémon was the very exact opposite.

Matt had snatched the glasses away from the Dark-type Pokémon and was inspecting them, still kneeling down at the side of the road. He had lost all strength to get up, to move, to do anything other than stare at the broken pair of glasses in his hands. The glass was cracked and one of the lenses had shattered and was missing several shards. They were mangled, but identifiable, and Matt had no idea what he was going to do. His sister was somewhere, caught by someone, and this strange Pokemon had her glasses. "Y-yeah..."

Kita, catching sight of the glasses and noticing the sudden paralyzed state that her trainer was in, began to growl. It was a great rumbling sound and she crouched protectively over the two trainers, projecting her ire at the Umbreon that had brought these bad tidings to them.

The Umbreon whimpered under the growl and anger from the Dragonite. His ears flattened against his head and tail went between his legs, as he nosed the ground; he was only the messenger. Even Adria had to admit that he was too innocent to purposely bring bad tidings. Not on his own, anyway. He was only the bearer of bad news while his trainer was the ring leader.

Cerberus joined Kita in the low rumble, once again stalking closer and closer to the slightly smaller dark-type. The Umbreon eyed him carefully as the snarling grew louder until it grew into a very nasty bark. He sprang up as Cerberus leapt at him and ran for cover in the bushes, terrified as Cerberus gave chase. "Cerberus!" Adria called. All she heard as a response was the ugly, dangerous barking and snarling begin to grow more distant. Hesitating at first, she broke into a run and through the bushes to give chase.

Matt's head shot up as his companions darted off into the trees after the skittish Umbreon. It seemed like an innocent thing; maybe it hadn't been quite so right to get so angry at it. Regardless of the fact, he needed to catch up to Adria. "W-wait!" Adria had come tagging along with him and suddenly they were separated; with what was going on, that was a recipe for trouble.

Regaining some strength in his limbs, Matt leaped up to his feet and darted after the girl with the teal hair and her Houndoom. They couldn't stay separated with Alex running around, especially not when there was another potential psycho with an Umbreon. Kita was left behind, unable to quite fit through the trees. Incapable of following from the ground, she took to the sky to try following them from above. It was difficult to track them through the foliage, but Cerberus's crazy, angry barking drew her attention in the right direction.

It was clear what his intentions were for the Umbreon and the Umbreon understood why Cerberus would so want to maul him. Even if he was an innocent Pokémon at heart, his owner remained to be that deranged man who hunted that trainer and anyone and everyone that was her family. But since Nathan was away at work, Maddie didn't fit the 'family' part despite dating the brother, the father being nowhere to be found, and the mother being somewhere he didn't know of, Adria was the only one stupid enough to continue traveling around despite this danger. It would have been so much easier for her to simply go into hiding until he got bored or something. Just watching the girl flounder about, wary on her traveling was enough to satisfy him. The Umbreon, Dyavol knew that, so he understood why Cerberus was out to kill him.

Seeking a relatively safe place, Dyavol darted straight into an abandoned Rocket base. It was falling apart and looked pathetic. The bushes and vines were beginning to take over this unused stone building, creeping up on the sides and tangling itself around the building. There was a wall of bushes by the entrance; part of it looked like it had been hacked away recently.

Matt chased after them, trying and failing to catch up with Adria. She was faster than him, apparently, and his bruised ribs weren't doing him any favors. It hurt whenever he took too deep a breath, so sprinting along and panting wasn't helping. When they finally reached the old base, Matt had to stop for a moment to catch his breath. Besides, he was fairly certain that running head first into this building was not the smartest thing he could do. They needed to regroup and figure out what they were going to do. It seemed rather likely that the owner of the Umbreon had sequestered him or herself in this building here. Running in without any sort of plan was a recipe for disaster.

Kita hovered overhead, trying to find a good place to land. Her wing beats rustled the tree tops above, signaling to everyone below that she was near-by and probably very confused as to what exactly was going on.

Adria had darted in, struggling to get over the rubble on the inside, but had ultimately lost Cerberus and Umbreon. His barking echoed down the dark halls and Adria preferred not to go alone. Returning to the outside, she saw Matt and Kita. "He fled in here. I'm guessing this is his safe place, and perhaps Tary is in here if his trainer is hiding out in here," she thought aloud. "They went further into the base, but I don't really want to go in... not alone." The darkness in the corridor wasn't the only unnerving thing, but so were the things that possibly lurked there. Anything could have lurked in the dark, unused, unlit halls of the base.

Matt grasped his ribs as they ached, trying to catch his breath for a moment. Kita had finally found a place to land, partially crouching on one of the broken walls of the abandoned base. Matt drifted over to her to get his bag. He didn't have an electric type Pokémon on him and none of his other Pokémon knew Flash, so he carried a flashlight for traveling in dark caves. It ought to come in handy here. Kita had his bag with her and he fetched the useful tool out of it.

"I can't wait around here," he managed to say after he had mostly caught his breath. "You should probably call your brother, or Benn, and tell them what's going on, though." It was their job to deal with threats like Alex and, from what Matt gathered, Alex was very involved in whatever was going on here. However, Matt was going in that base whether Adria wanted to or not. It was bad to rush in without a plan, but Matt couldn't stand around here making one for too long; his sister was in there somewhere and he was determined to find her.

Adria nibbled her lip. She didn't want to go alone, she didn't want Matt to go in alone, she didn't want to have neither of them go, but at the same time she didn't want either of them to go. Alex was likely in there, but then there was that other person who was in there. There was that other person who was with her if they were truly in the building. Going in knowing just Alex was there was okay with her, but if it wasn't just her... "I'll just send him a message, it'll take only a few seconds," Adria was already pulling her phone to send a message to them. "Just wait a few seconds; I'll come with you. It'll be dangerous if there's someone else there with Alex."

Matt glanced over to her as she agreed to call her brother and come with him. Honestly, he felt a whole lot better for the fact that he wasn't going in alone. Even if they were still just a pair of teenagers, being a pair was better than just being one inside the building. Nathan or Benn would be able to figure out what to do if things took a turn for the worse. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. With any luck, they could grab Tary and get out of this place. There was a very low chance of that, though, because there was more than one threat in this building. "Someone else as in whoever owns the Umbreon?" Matt still didn't know anything about this mysterious person, but judged that he or she wasn't very good from Adria's violent reaction to the Umbreon.

Adria nodded, her fingers dancing over the key pad as she typed the message as fast as she possibly could. "Yes. The owner might be very dangerous," although there was no question to Adria that the owner actually was dangerous. It was still possible to question if the Umbreon's owner was actually another victim of Alex and the Umbreon was kind of left behind, but Adria knew for a fact that couldn't be true. "The two of us is far better than one of us going in, especially now that Cerberus has probably roused them and announced our arrival. His violent chase and nasty barking couldn't have gone unnoticed." Shoving her phone back in her pocket, Adria slipped back into the building and waited for Matt to join her. "This could end in a bloodbath for someone if not for us all..." In a situation like this, splitting up was a bad idea; a really bad one.

Matt scowled slightly at the thought of a bloodbath, but followed the girl into the base anyway. "Kita, stay out here." As he spoke, he tapped Ender's Pokéball to release the ghost. It was probably best to have a Pokémon out and ready should they run into trouble. Although still a little sore and drained from the earlier attack against him, Ender seemed ready and willing to venture forth into the dark, abandoned base. "This is going to be a mess, but I can't just let my sister sit around in the dark while we stand around outside." Matt was determined to find his sister and take her back from these psychopaths.

Adria instinctively reached for her waist to dig into her brown and white butterfly-print messenger bag for a berry pouch, but realized she'd left all those important things at home next to her bed, bringing nothing but the Pokémon on hand and her phone. While cursing inwardly, the sight of an Oran berry tree caught her eye. "Ender, go grab a berry from that conveniently-placed berry tree over there before we go in," Adria suggested, pointing to a small tree just to the left of the hacked-away bushes. "It could help you in the long-run, or you can regain a bit more strength now." Too bad it wasn't Sitrus, though. It would have been slightly better because it was better at helping recover the Pokémon that ate it. The blast of multiple flavors was far better and helped relax and rejuvenate the tired Pokémon. An Oran berry was okay, though.

Ender did as she requested without hesitation, disappearing from their sides momentarily to fetch the berry. While at the tree, he popped one in his mouth to recover a little energy. It didn't help a whole lot, but it was nice to have anyway. He returned to Adria with two berries in his hand, offering them to her. "Here." He'd probably carry one with him, but Adria could have the other. Now they had at least something that could help them a little should a Pokémon get hurt. It was only a small, mostly ineffectual, method of healing; in the end, it might be just a little bit of healing that could really make or break this expedition.

Adria accepted the berry from Ender, slipping it into the rather empty bag for the time being. In the rush to get out of the house after Benn had told them where Tary had last been seen, she'd taken everything out to double check she had all that she needed only to forget to put them back and grab the bag instead. All she had left was a half-filled water bottle, a wallet absolutely starving for cash she'd shoved in the bank a while ago, a tooth brush, and a deck of cards – small things that littered just the bottom of her bag. "Thanks. Let's head inside then, I guess..."

Matt swiveled the light he carried to illuminate the dark halls before them. They needed to get going; no more stalling around. They were going to find his sister. Honestly, now that they were descending into the depths of this base, Matt wasn't sure he wanted Adria tagging along. As friendly as they had gotten since secrets had been spilled, it was probably really bad for him to be leading Adria into what was probably a very obvious trap.

Ender set off ahead, floating into the darkness by himself and returning every few moments. He bobbed in and out of their mission; mostly, he was probing the hallways to check for any danger he could detect, but he was also reassuring them that he hadn't disappeared. He didn't want to get too far from the trainers.

Adria knew how this would turn out for them in the end and there was no other way to achieve their goal without stepping right on that trigger. Although Adria was planning to tag along anyway, the fact that this second person was likely here made it impossible for her to think about returning. Matt may have been a victim of whatever plots Alex thought of, but he'd only end up as a victim to murder if it were up to James, unless there was some mutual agreement of no killing, or something.

"Do you hear that?" Adria whispered into the frigid air. Silence. There was no noise to be heard besides their careful footsteps over the rubble and foliage that scattered the halls like toys in a child's playroom. Silence. Where was Cerberus?

The duo was coming up on two sets of doors, one on either side. These first two doors were open: the left had its door thrown against the back wall of the room. Minus the rubble, the first was relatively empty. To the right the room had no door to begin with. Tables were flipped over in that room. There was shattered glass all over the floor from beakers and glass containers and a few barred cages tucked away against the left wall. This room was likely once a laboratory. Between two of the cages was a small moving, breathing lump. Its face was facing the wall to avoid eye contact with whatever popped their head in next.

"It's quiet in here." No Cerberus, no Umbreon, no people. It seemed like a ghost town in here.

Ender was the first to break the quiet after Adria. "Matt, over here!" He had spotted the small, moving figure in the room on the right. Matt was quick to join him in that room, picking his way through overturned tables. Glass crunched under his feet as he moved across the room, towards the figure. They needed to be careful, but the sight of another living body was something of a relief. It might be Tary! But it could also be James or Alex. Matt didn't really know, but he was determined to find out. If it was Tary, they could get out of this creepy base faster. As it was, Matt doubted that Alex would make it that easy.

Going to follow Matt and Ender, Adria stopped almost immediately before the threshold. Below Matt's feet a few clatters were made among the crunch of the glass, similar to the sound you get in a video game when stepping on a pressure plate trap. Adria, somehow, stopped herself before being impaled from above as bars shot out of the threshold and into the concrete where there were already indents in the ground for them. Adria didn't have a flash light with her since Matt had it with him and had to grope along the walls for a possible switch that may or may not raise these bars barricading Matt's way. "Matt!" Adria called to him. "You're locked in. There's no switch out here, either."

Stopping immediately at the sound of the metal bars descending and his name being called, Matt backtracked to the bars, looking around on the inside. Upon finding nothing that might help by looking and feeling along the walls, he cursed slightly under his breath.

Ender, presently distracted with the lump between two of the cages, made a rather upsetting discovery. "It's a fake. A Substitute, I think." He frowned at the thought that Matt had been trapped in here for nothing. It took Matt a moment to think about their situation and what they were going to do now, but the best idea he could think of was not pleasant. "Here," he passed the flashlight through the bars and held it out to her. "I'll figure out a way out of here with my Pokémon. Take the flashlight and Ender with you." Obviously, Matt's idea was for her to continue on looking with the flashlight. Tary was still in this building somewhere and nothing would be gained by both of them sitting around in the dark trying to figure out how to lift the bars across the door.

Adria bit her lip, reaching out and accepting the flash light. Should they separate for this, or maybe look for an alternative exit, instead? But his sister, Tary was very likely in here, in the building. Adria really didn't enjoy the idea of splitting up, but... "I'll... I'll go search for her," Adria agreed, thinking back to the description Matt provided earlier. "Hope you get out. Nathan and Benn should be here soon... I told them it was important they show up, especially if 10 minutes go by and I don't send another message." Flashing the light back into the room to check once more for another exit he could use, her search was fruitless. "I'll be back if nothing happens and you're not out," Adria promised.

Matt flashed a small, nervous smile. "Hey, I've still got my Pokémon with me. I'll have Riley work on trying to break through these bars or something. Shida might be able to sniff a way out. We'll be fine." Of course, that wasn't accounting for the two psychopaths running amok in the building, but Matt was purposefully ignoring that. Right now, it was most important to Matt that they find his sister and get her out of here; she was only 11 and there was no need for her to be dragged into a situation like this. As much as he didn't want Adria wandering around alone – which was sort of why he was sending Ender with her – Tary was slightly higher on his priority list by virtue of the fact that she was his beloved sister. "Be careful out there, alright?"

Shuddering in the darkness and cold, Adria nodded. He'd be fine. He had strong Pokémon. Shida was strong, and Riley, who was the Scizor that Ender mentioned the previous day, was there. Speaking of Scizor, the thought made Adria so much more aware of the danger that lurked in the base. There was no doubt that James was here with his Scizor. Adria could only hope she didn't come in contact with the man and that cruel Pokémon who struck fear into her very core. Shaking the thought clear of her mind, Adria began down the hall with the light. "Yeah... I'll be careful," Adria replied shakily, "see you in a bit." After that, she began her descent further into the halls, praying that she wouldn't meet James, that Matt got out before something happened to him, and that Tary was safe and hopefully somewhere the two psychopaths weren't.

Matt watched Adria and the light recede down the hallway. Adria was on her own, sort of; she still had whatever Pokémon she had brought and Ender. Matt was alone in the darkness for now. He released his Scizor companion to try breaking through the bars and his little Furret to try sniffing another way out of this room they were trapped in. It was pitch black in here, though, and Matt couldn't see a thing without the flashlight he had lent to Adria. Hopefully the girl would be alright and would be able to find who they had come for.

Ender floated along beside Adria, keeping close watch in the darkness. As a ghost, he had decent night vision and could see in places that the flashlight didn't illuminate. He kept watch for anything suspicious or dangerous in the darkness.

Proceeding further into the darkness, eventually Adria's footsteps faded away the further she traveled into the base. She had a feeling that Tary might end up being held in the furthest accessible part of the base. Although checking every room she passed, she still figured that Tary was further down.

Meanwhile, a pair of eyes fixed themselves on Matt and the Pokémon he released. In the darkness of the room, these eyes could see quite clearly in the darkness because, not only were they adjusted, it easily saw in the dark. In the corner of the room, it watched Matt and his Pokémon.

There was a light chuckle somewhere in the room. It was almost a mocking chuckle of amusement, amused that Matt had been the one to fall into his trap instead of his prey. But he guessed that was okay.

Matt whirled at the unexpected sound and he pressed his back to the wall to avoid someone or something coming up on him from behind. Shida hissed from somewhere in the darkness. Although impossible to see, her fur had puffed up as she searched for the source of the dark chuckle. Riley, who had once been working on breaking the bars in the doorway, had turned and carefully positioned himself in front of his trainer. There was something lurking here in the darkness and it was dangerous, whatever it was. No normal person could make such a sound while trapped in complete darkness in a situation like this. It wasn't the feminine giggle of the psychopath that Matt was most familiar with, though. This... this was someone different.


	7. Matt vs James

**A/N**

**Chapter 7 is here! Also, WARNING. This chapter contains blood and some violence. More Pokemon battles await!**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 7:** Matt vs. James

The dark chuckle evolved into a sinister laughter. There was some scuttling along the walls traveling up to the ceiling. Whatever it was had no problem seeing in this pitch black darkness. "On guard already, are we?" The sinister voice sliced through the darkness, almost violating it. He didn't need to see to know that the Pokémon he'd released were already ready for whatever fight there was.

Something neared Matt in the pitch black very quickly, only the slightest sound of crunch glass sounding over the man's voice. "Your friend was right, though: it was a substitute. Its sole purpose was to attract my prey, but instead it was you. But at least it's someone rather than nothing." Something reached out and launched itself at Riley from the side. "It wasn't a total loss."

Fine tuned as his senses were, Riley was unable to completely save himself from the sudden attack from his right. He turned part of the way to meet the oncoming projectile, holding his arms and pincers at the ready to absorb the blow as much as he could.

Matt – unable to see, let alone do something in this pitch black – grabbed another Pokéball from his belt and released another Pokémon to help him defend himself against the unknown threat. Gama stood at the ready, bouncing on his heels and alert for any other sudden attacks.

Although he had known of another presence in the building somewhere because of the Umbreon, Adria had told Matt nothing about who owned that Umbreon and what they were like. "Who are you!?" He shouted into the darkness, voice wavering slightly as he tried to figure out just what kind of danger he was dealing with.

With glass crunching under his feet, the man traveled to the other side of the room, his voice carrying out into the dark. "I see you're not at all informed of who I am," he noted. The thing that attacked Riley fought back with pincers of its own, striking out against the creature. "It would be only fair that she would have told you after you spoke of the woman to her, but I guess some things are too touched by fear to even reach the tongue. Shall I provide you with a name, or an alias that I go by? It doesn't matter to me, either way." Something sticky was shot from the ceiling, where the second Pokémon lurked, straight at Shida and Gama. It was webbing, sticky and laced with strong electrical currents- Electroweb, as it was called. "Oh, terribly sorry, Matt. Shall I turn the lights on? It's a bit hard to see in here, I must admit."

Matt followed the sound of the crunching glass as much as he could, remaining with his back against the wall. However, the sound of Riley clashing with some other metal Pokémon was loud and distracting. Gama's pained cry was also loud, and very worrisome. Shida seemed to have made it out alright, at least. The Electroweb hadn't caught her and she used her freedom to the best of her ability. Darting at the source of the crunching footsteps, she attempted to directly attack the man that was setting his Pokémon upon her friends in this pitch blackness.

"Who are you!?" Matt repeated, as loudly and boldly as he could. No good would come from admitting and showing his fear in such a situation, even if it was obvious. Standing as strong as he could was his best option as he attempted to figure out just what was going on in here. "What is your name?" Alias or not, it probably didn't matter. Really, Matt was just stalling for time.

The voice carried from the far right corner behind sticky webbing ready to ensnare the ferret Pokémon. "My, how impatient of you," but he smiled. "Very well," he snapped his fingers and a blinding light suddenly flashed from the center of the room, illuminating it before dying down a bit into a relatively dimmer light trapped in a ball of webbing on the ceiling.

The room was covered in spider webs, very different from when Matt first entered. Hanging on the ceiling was an Ariados that watched Matt almost hungrily. Fighting with Riley was another Scizor with an evil look glimmering in his beady eyes. In the far right corner was a man ducking under another spider web and making his way to the center of the room with ebony locks and sea-blue eyes narrowed at Matt from underneath. His posture was completely relaxed, hands tucked in his jacket pocket almost casually. There were sunglasses clipped onto his shirt collar, having used those moments ago against the flash to shield his eyes. To Matt, if he remembered correctly the appearance and was able to see clearly enough, this man looked strikingly like an older version of Nathan. "Th'name's James."

"Arg!" The sudden bright light was a violent contrast from the previous darkness of the room and the red-head had rushed to cover his eyes too little too late. Now, he was just rubbing his eyes and trying to blink spots away from his vision. When he finally managed to open his eyes and see straight, his attention was captured by the man approaching him. _James_, he said his name was. _James_, and yet this man looked so familiar. The black hair, the sculpt of his face, the eyes... they all looked just like Nathan. Older, more worn, but the look was still there and it caught Matt unawares for a moment. It certainly hadn't been what he had been expecting.

All of the Pokémon Matt had released into the room were busy, now, leaving him mostly unprotected. Shida was caught in a spider web, squirming and trying to free her fur from the sticky tendrils. Gama was incapacitated by the electric move that had practically taken him down in one hit. Riley, meanwhile, was not faring all too badly against the other Scizor, but it was taking all his concentration not to be beat down by the more experienced Pokémon. Despite the situation he had found himself in, the shock had taken over momentarily. This James person was not at all what he had been expecting.

More laughter escaped from this James person as he watched to realization of familiarity settle into Matt. It was the same look Adria had gave him a year ago and it was the same look Nathan had made about the same time, thoroughly insulted by the striking resemblance. "You and your sister look nothing alike, I must say," James admitted. "Now that I see you from up close, I don't see much that really points the girl out as your sister. But then again, Adria looks nothing like Nathan. Not all siblings look alike, I guess." The man half shrugged. "Finding your sister was quite easy, and getting her was also very easy; Dyavol approached, practically tripping over his paws to go after a ball and begun to play with that fire mutt. It brought her guard down." Dyavol, who was in the far left corner, a wall of webbing protecting him from any and all danger, looked up at his name. There was a half-gnawed apple between his paws.

"But allow me to clear something up before you jump to an absurd conclusion for I'd like to express one fact," he began firmly. "Dyavol is a puppy at heart and had no intentions of being a pawn or taking up a fight; the only time he seems to get aggressive is when his spot is taken at night." James really hated it when people assumed Dyavol was heartless. In truth, he was harmless and had not a single bad bone in his body. "He only showed the glasses to you. I don't appreciate that mutt chasing him down and attacking, and I don't care if that mutt wasn't yours. You fell in the trap, so you're going to play a game." He pointed to the ceiling where there were large nests of webbing that looked large enough to hold a human. There was one in each of the corners, not counting the one Dyavol was in. "Which one do you think doesn't hold the mutt?"

Rage bubbled up in Matt as James spoke about his sister. The red-head did not take kindly to someone talking about his sister like that and here he was standing before the man that had apparently nabbed her, thanks to his innocent Pokémon. Dyavol, as James had called the Umbreon, had struck Matt as a more innocent creature, but he was usually smart enough to avoid making judgment calls on a first impression. Some Pokémon were very good at hiding their true intentions, just like humans. It was better to be a little skeptical rather than get hurt somewhere along the line.

His rage dimmed a moment when James mentioned a game and he cautiously cast a glance up at the ceiling where the Ariados was resting. Webs; there were lots and lots of webs up there and it appeared that Cerberus had been stashed in one of them. That was what James had implied, at least, but Matt wasn't sure he had the complete inclination to believe him. "There are three places he could be," he pointed out, meaning that Cerberus was only in one. James wasn't making complete sense, asking him which one _didn't_ hold Cerberus. "But I'm not sure I want to play your game." Matt reached for the last Pokémon on his belt, the last one he had with him, and tossed out his Metagross, Kane. The metal Pokémon filled the room; he was larger than the two Scizor and his size and strength might help to keep James and his Pokémon at bay.

"If you don't play, I'll cut the lights and let my Ariados feast. It's your job to tell which sack Ariana will eat. Each contains something and one contains the mutt that chased Dyavol around. You have to guess which ones he isn't in, and Ariana will eat its contents. But if you don't want to play the game, I guess we'll just have to be more aggressive. Far more aggressive, and that will upset the local Pokémon." James hinted.

"There was a reason why this base was unsuccessful in Rocket History. One was because of its experimentations of possession. Another was that there was a bunch of Pokémon whose home was where this base was later built," James filled in. "Small battles like between Scizor and Scizor are okay, but when someone brings out the big guns, they get involved."

Even as he spoke, the ground begun to shake around Matt, brown moles traversed underneath and popped up right under Kane's feet, each using the move Dig. The Diglett looked quite annoyed about the mass of Pokémon gathered in the room. At the same time, another brown mole popped up right underneath Kane. This one was bigger and stronger with three heads and looked to be the leader of the other four Diglett that used dig simultaneously under Kane's footing. The Dugtrio looked the most annoyed, glaring at Matt and James with the three heads all at once. James didn't seem fazed. "The last thing you'll want is an army of Pokémon you can't see, right?" He asked. This attack on the heaviest Pokémon by the ring leader was a warning. To the Dugtrio, this Pokémon had the most potential, so it made sense to attack that Pokémon.

Mat scowled worriedly, looking about at all the Diglett and the Dugtrio that had congregated into the room. Kane was treading carefully, lifting his feet to avoid being hit and simultaneously avoid stepping on them. The warning attacks were strong against his type, but it wasn't enough to do significant damage just yet. He was going to have to be very careful now; in this kind of climate, Kane wouldn't be able to properly attack or do anything, but he was still keeping James away from Matt. That, at least, was a good thing.

This game, though... this was a dangerous game to be playing. James was partially right in that Matt didn't want to be plunged back into darkness and he didn't want any harm to come to Cerberus. He eyed the black haired man somewhat warily. "What are in the other webs?" Were there other things in there that could potentially get hurt by his decision? "And what happens when I choose?" What would happen afterwards? If he chose a cocoon that didn't have Cerberus in it, what then? After the Ariados feasted, what would James do?

James approved of Matt's decision to play along. Now that Matt was aware of the rules and aware of why he couldn't have Kane attack, James felt a bit more on top of things. Although, he silently admitted to himself, the appearance of Kane threw him and his plans off a bit. But Syler was still fighting, and the Ariados was paying close attention up above. "Let's just say they were dead before we got here. In every sack will be something for her to feast on. And you have to pick two, but one at a time," James explained, "that way, in the end, there will only be one left. That one may or may not be the mutt. Understand?" Meanwhile, he tried to think of a way to get to Matt somehow. Syler was itching to get a little more bloody action. Otherwise, playing games like these, although not very satisfying, would be good enough. "Choose."

There had to be some way out of this that wasn't chance. Matt couldn't risk Cerberus's life on a guessing game. Kane, at least, seemed to have it covered. The large metal Pokémon was scanning the three choices, secretly probing them with his Psychic power. It would allow him to, hopefully, narrow down the choices and save Cerberus from being eaten.

Matt was also observing his choices carefully, scooting away from the wall a little so that he could get closer to his Metagross. He placed a hand on the cool blue metal of one of the Pokémon's legs and felt some of that Psychic energy flowing into him. Kane was a masterful manipulator of psychic energy, and it was using that power to give Matt a nudge in the right direction without being too obvious about it.

"That one." He pointed to the far right corner, assured by his Pokémon that this bundle was not Cerberus.

The man glanced over as Ariana scuttled to the sack and spent a long moment investigating it. Even she didn't know what was in this, considering that a different, local Ariados had spun it before they arrived. It was older than the others, and Ariana squealed in protest as she finally figured out what it was. Ripping the cocoon open, something heavy dropped to the ground with a nasty thump. It was a corpse, almost perfectly preserved, drained of all fluids. It was truly terrifying; even James had to admit how gnarly it was. "Congrats: not the mutt." James flinched away from the sight. He'd never get used to the idea of how spiders feasted on their trapped prey. Taking a few steps closer to Matt just for the sake of being further away from the corpse, he looked to the other two cocoons. "I take it your big friend is telling you all the answers, right? Which one is he saying?"

Matt backed off a few steps, Kane moving with him, to keep his distance from both James and the drained corpse. All color had drained from his face as he set eyes on the body that had fallen to the floor; one cocoon down, one more to go. Kane was completely ignoring the human that had instigated this sick game and was examining the last two cocoons. James had given them the most important clue: there was only one living creature in the cocoons and that was Cerberus. The other cocoons were nothing but corpses, and Kane could tell.

Matt ignored the question, taking in Kane's Psychic observations. He turned his attention to another cocoon, this one in the upper left corner. "That one's the other dead body," he pointed to make himself absolutely clear. He wasn't about to have James cheating on this game.

James clasped his hands together. "Wonderful! Congrats on guessing right!" There was no need to open the other one. James hadn't expected the first corpse to really look like that and there was no way he'd open that second one up. "And here comes your prize right now!" While Matt and Kane had been so focused on the other two cocoons and guessing which one hadn't held Cerberus, Ariana and scuttled along the ceiling using the spiny barbs on her feet to get up over Matt and Kane's head. She dropped down on Kane and, using her legs, began to physically assault the large Pokémon with Foul Play.

Foul Play was an attack that uses the target's attack stat rather than the users, and Metagross had quite a bit higher attack stats than Ariados. And, since Metagross was a Psychic type, the dark type did double damage. However, Kane's steel-type countered it, so the attack count was only times regularly effective instead of super effective.

Kane emitted a loud, rumbling roar when a sudden weight dropped on his flat head. The assault was painful and powerful against him, but he was a Pokémon of high defense. Matt had jerked back and away when the battle started, wanting to stay out of range of any attacks. "Kane! Psychic!" His order rang loud and clear to his Metagross, who began to glow with Psychic energy. Because Ariados was part Poison, the Psychic attack would be twice as powerful. Maybe that attack would get the spider off of the metal Pokémon's head. The room had practically erupted into battles, with Riley and Syler going at it off to one side and Kane taking up most of the center of the room. That was it for Matt's Pokémon, though; the other two he had with him were incapacitated and these two battles left him with his back to the wall, quite literally.

Ariana squealed in pain and writhed on the large Pokémon's back. However, the poison Pokémon didn't seem to be getting off any time soon as the Psychic only slowed it down in its physical assault upon the Pokémon, still using Kane's attack stat against it by the use of Foul Play. Psychic was strong against Poison and there was no doubt that Ariados was part Poison, but it hadn't been as effected as it should have been. That was because of the use of a berry it had in its possession only moments ago. The berry was a Payapa Berry; a soft, lumpy, purple berry with a sweet and sour taste to it. It was a berry that halved the effectiveness of super effective Psychic-type move. James made sure to prepare his Ariados carefully prior to these events, having had his Ariados stash multiple berries in the room under the webbing or in normal looking clumps of webbing. No one could say that James wasn't playing fairly, either; he'd just had his Ariados conveniently place berries in small, easy to miss web clumps along the ceiling.

However, the berries were only available to the spider and not any of James's other Pokémon. Syler didn't seem to need one, anyway, since the metallic Pokémon was able to hold himself against the other, less-experienced Scizor. He was fighting quite vigorously without any mercy, intending to win this battle against its doppelganger.

The fight between the two Scizor was not going well. Riley was outclassed by this older, stronger, and more experienced Scizor. Despite giving the battle his all, he was at a disadvantage and his opponent had gained the upper hand. Riley was being driven back, accumulating more injuries as the fight went on. This other Scizor was merciless, fighting with no intention of losing any ground. If Riley wasn't careful, he might not make it out of the fight at all.

Kane, on the other hand, was faring slightly better. He was one of the strongest Pokémon on Matt's team by virtue of his type and naturally high defense and attack. A second Psychic attack attempted to dislodge the spider from his back; he couldn't let her keep using Foul Play. Although it wasn't extremely effective, because of him being part Steel-type, it was still going to take its toll on him if he didn't do anything about it. This weak little bug Pokémon should honestly stand no chance against him. Then again, there was no telling the crafty tricks this Pokémon would pull out of thin air.

While the battles proceeded in their violent way, Matt was attempting to figure out what exactly he could do to turn the fights in his favor. He could see that Riley was losing, Kane was struggling, Shida was still stuck in the webbing in one corner, and Gama was completely out of the fight. Ender was somewhere in the halls with Adria and Kita was left outside. That left Matt very little option, seeing as he couldn't leave the room with the bars blocking the way.

Ariana squealed even louder before finally hopping off and scuttling away back to her trainer, weakened after that last attack and barely on her feet. It didn't have the energy to climb up the walls and eat a berry tucked away.

James had some berries on him, however. Outside the base there were many berry trees that James went and picked through. Syler didn't really need berries, but Ariana needed berries to keep herself going after a while, especially against such a strong Pokémon. Among these berries was a Sitrus Berry. It was another lumpy berry that was almost identical to a pear and only slightly larger than an Oran Berry. James didn't like having his Pokémon faint and preferred to have them retreat rather than go down fighting. His Pokémon liked that, too. With Ariana's docile nature, being friendlier to her made it easier for her to listen to him and be obedient.

"Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Matt?" James asked, allowing Ariana to nibble on the berry he had for her. It would recover about a fourth of her health. Off to the side, he could see that Syler was stepping it up a notch now that Ariana had retreated. He was aiming to simply knock Riley's lights out for the time being and take him out of the fight so he could finish off Kane himself. He was, by far, the strongest Pokémon James had on him.

Matt scowled in response to the taunting question, forced to think about the fact that James was right; he really was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He was stuck between dangerous Pokémon battles and a wall with no open door. There was no place for him to go. James was right, but Matt didn't vocalize his answer; he merely glared at the man instead, trying to pick through his options for a feasible way to escape this mess.

Kane was doing well enough, even though he had already taken damage from all sides. The metal Pokémon kept his eyes on the Ariados, but shuffled and adjusted his footing slightly to avoid angering any of the Diglett or the Dugtrio as he advanced forwards. His eyes were still glowing with Psychic energy; he wasn't going to let the Ariados get away with scuttling off to heal in the middle of the battle. It was entirely fair, by rights, to heal in the middle of a battle, but Kane was not in a position to let it continue to happen if he wanted his trainer to make it out of this situation alright.

Off to the side, Riley hit the ground hard. He was winded, sore, and exhausted, but knew that just giving up was not an option. The stubborn Pokémon rose again to his feet, trying to keep his front facing his opponent so that Syler would not score a hit from behind. It was clear he wouldn't last much longer at the rate they were going.

Syler scowled at the stubborn Pokémon. Now he was just getting annoyed with Riley. Like Cerberus, Syler's patience was very thin. He disliked tedious tasks and dealing with persistent Pokémon. He liked to get things done, and Riley's persistent attitude was beginning to get to him. He sped up in his fighting against Riley almost immediately as he rose once again, aiming to knock him down once more and hopefully for good in this fight.

Ariana watched warily as Kane shuffled forward. She fled to the walls to try and distance herself from the large Pokémon and his psychic abilities, but it was virtually impossible to flee from Psychic energy. Ariana was James's weakest. He recalled her into her Pokéball, still refusing to let her faint. She was out for now, and although James had one more at his disposal, and even out on the field, but Dyavol was chowing on apples. He was passive aggressive and liked to keep it that way. Even if Kane's psychic wouldn't affect him without something else to make it affect him, Dyavol would probably just try to play with Kane.

Riley hit the ground again, unable to continue battling. Although he still seemed somewhat conscious – at the very least he was alive – he couldn't pick himself up off the ground; he lacked the strength to do anything other than lay there and catch his breath.

Kane was still very much in the fight, however, advancing on James menacingly. Normally, the Metagross wouldn't dare harm a human or even attempt to do so, but this man was pissing him off. This man had trapped his trainer in this terrible room and had severely harmed two of his companions with his Pokémon. Kane was going to do something to this man to force him to back off, at the very least, so Matt could make it out of here intact. Even if Riley couldn't break open the bars across the door, Kane probably could. Matt hadn't used him before because such a large Pokémon using such a powerful attack would have drawn the unwanted attention of whoever was in the building; Matt had been hoping that Riley could do it in a more quiet fashion.

Syler had no intention to kill Riley, although he wouldn't deny the thought had crossed his mind. But he had to pick up the slack of that Ariados now! He didn't particularly like Ariana and barely tolerated Dyavol. The Scizor left the other creature to fade out or stay conscious – he really didn't care what happened, and went for the approaching Metagross instead. Unlike Ariana, he had no weakness to Psychic and was barely affected by other steel moves. Psychic and Steel only did half damage and because of his Bug-half, and Fighting reverted to only normal damage rather than the times-two damage rate against steel types. It was good because he half-expected this thing to have a fighting move, but at the same time could have cared less.

Syler readied his X-scissor and attacked Kane with it from the side.

The attack forced Kane to switch his attention to the advancing Scizor instead of the trainer that had brought all this trouble. Kane did, indeed, have a Fighting-type move: Hammer Arm. Although it decreased his speed and had a less than perfect accuracy, the move was his best option against the Scizor.

However, Kane was already suffering from the multitude of attacks that had already hit him. The Foul Play from Ariana and the multiple Dig attacks from the ground Pokémon still underneath his feet were starting to take their toll. He needed to try to end this battle quickly before Syler could get the upper hand.

While the Pokémon fought it out, Matt had sidled his way over to Riley now that the Scizor was mostly out of the way of any fighting. Gama was still in the middle of everything and Matt could neither recall him nor get to him because of how much was going on in between them. Matt had, stupidly, neglected to bring his bag; he had left it outside with Kita because he hadn't quite anticipated that there would be this much fighting between Pokémon. He had also anticipated that he and Adria would stick together and likely outnumber whatever came their way.

Syler braced himself for the Hammer Arm attack. He knew there had to be a Hammer Arm that this Metagross knew. It was almost an essential move, or so he'd seen in the past. Syler, in his time had seen several different Metagross and only one out of four didn't know Hammer Arm, but they knew Brick Break instead. Some sort of fighting move was almost essential for most Metagross. Almost.

Syler countered the Hammer Arm by tightening his defense. His body gave a bright sheen as the metal along his body hardened in an Iron Defense, bringing his defense up by two stages. The raise in defense made the attack less painful and more bearable for Syler.

Kane didn't let up just because Syler was raising his defense. His arm swung down again, using Hammer Arm once more to strike at his enemy. This Scizor was going down and then Kane would incapacitate the trainer so his own trainer could make an escape. The sooner they got out of this situation, the better. This trainer and his Pokémon were dangerous; they had proved that already with how they used some cheap techniques and played games with people's and Pokémon's lives. Before they left, they were going to need to pry Cerberus off the ceiling and free him from the cocoon. Hopefully he would still be alright.

If anything Cerberus would be in a very bad mood. At the moment he was knocked out in the cocoon. James had used a chemical to lace the webbing in order to keep Cerberus asleep for as long as he was in the cocoon. Other than a bit of a beating, he was fine; he was a tough hound.

Syler braced himself again for the second attack. Now Kane's speed had fallen down; he was slower, and Syler was faster. Syler took this chance to launch himself away from the large Pokémon and sharpen his attack using Sword Dance. He took a few steps in what seemed like a simple 3-step dance. His pincers had a soft purple glow to them, which faded within moments, and then had a brighter sheen to them in the dim lighting. That took only a matter of seconds, and Syler was on the offensive once again, crossing his pincers and readying another X-scissor against the Metagross. X-scissor had a high critical hit ratio and was a bug-type move. The extra attack would make this move quite powerful.

Kane was moving sluggishly now, due to his severe drop in speed; it didn't matter a whole lot in the long run because Syler had already been faster than him. He continued to assault the Pokémon that was buffing himself up, unwilling to let him get an even larger upper hand. Both of them were battle weary, but Kane was the one that had endured more damage from more Pokémon and he was slowing down in more than one way. Another few tough strikes from Syler would be the end of the battle, even if Kane had a high defense.

Matt was kneeling by Riley while his Pokémon fought on his own; Kane didn't need Matt's constant hovering and babying in the middle of a battle. The Metagross was more than capable of fighting his own battles, literally, and choosing the attacks he thought would work best in his situation. He would do fine while Matt checked on his other Pokémon. Riley wasn't faring very well, having fallen unconscious now. A little rest would do him good, but he would need to be healed as soon as they got out of this place.

Syler never let up, repeatedly using his attacks against the Metagross. The fight with Riley had left him somewhat beaten, and this fight with Kane was doing more than just chipping away his health. It was clear that the fight would end soon enough between the two of them.

Behind the fighting and across from Matt, James had released Ariana once again and gave her specific instructions. Afterward, she scuttled up the wall again, in better health than before returning to her Pokéball, and up the ceiling where Cerberus was hanging in his web sack. He'd spare the trainer the tedious task of prying the creature off the ceiling, but that was the extent of James's kindness. After this battle, James would bail. He had stalled long enough and allowed his Scizor to get his fair share of fighting.

The victor of the battle was Syler. Kane moved sluggishly compared to the Scizor and was finally overtaken by the ruthless attacks, sinking slowly to the ground. The Diglett and the Dugtrio were going to have to move out of the way if they didn't want to get hurt by his slumped mass.

This was not looking good for Matt. All of his Pokémon had been rendered unable to battle, even though Shida was still conscious and struggling in the corner. Should she get free, she still wasn't enough to take down the part Metal, part Bug Pokémon that had taken out half of Matt's team. Riley was coming around, but too slowly to do anything helpful for the foreseeable future.

Syler smirked at his fallen foe. He made his way to Matt, but stopped immediately at the sound of squealing. One of the Diglett hadn't gotten away in time and was clocked on the head by the massive, metal Pokémon. It didn't bode well for anyone; the angered look the Dugtrio shot at him was enough to tell anyone that. Syler returned to his trainer's side just as the floor began to shake. The walls began to shake soon after. The vibrations of the ground traveled up the walls and shook the ceiling. Ariana was on the ceiling still, trying to get the web sack down when the shake knocked her from her perched and sent her flailing down upon Matt, spidery limbs flying everywhere.

At the very least, Syler had backed off, and Matt liked to think that it made him a little safer to have the cruel Pokémon as far away from him as possible. While he tried to catch his balance, however, the sudden weight of the spider crashing down on top of him knocked him flat onto his back, flailing and trying desperately to get the Pokémon away from him. With the flailing limbs, however, something went incredibly wrong. There was a searing, unbearable pain around his right eye and he threw the Ariados away from him so that his hands were free to grasp his face and he could writhe, unimpeded, upon the shaking floor. Blood leaked between his fingers, running down his hand and face. A scream had bubbled up from his throat, echoing around the room and down the hallway just outside the barred doorway.

James froze for a moment as the screaming caught his attention. The injury was caused by Ariana, who scurried away almost immediately from Matt. James cursed aloud and recalled his two Pokémon, calling Dyavol from his corner and stumbling over things on the floor to reach his companion. It was time to go. Causing Matt an injury like that was unintentional. He had only planned for Syler to taunt him and maybe give him a few bruises if he wanted to, but the sight of the blood cascading down from his right eye was quite unintended.

Abandoning the screaming boy, James ran to the barred door that was no longer barred – Dyavol had flipped the switch in his little corner – and fled the shuddering room. Soon after he left the quakes died down. A Diglett popped up through the cracked cement floor nearby Matt and watched. Why was he screaming?

* * *

Matt had finally managed to control himself after the quake died down. The pain was intense, but he bit his lip to stop anything louder than unintentional, strangled whimpers from escaping. That hadn't been something he had expected from the spider; maybe Syler would have done some similarly painful damage, but not Ariana. Blood was still flowing from the injury to his eye, as well as trickling from his lip because of the pressure he was putting on it with his teeth. Cracking open an eye, the first thing he was met with was the inquisitive little Diglett. It seemed harmless enough, so he tried not to worry about it in his pain addled, hazy mind.

Riley seemed to have recovered somewhat, despite the sudden localized earthquake that had hit the room. Just as the Scizor was pushing himself up into a sitting position, the light went out. Without Ariana there, she being the source of the light, it was no longer being sustained and had plunged the room back into darkness. Now that things had gone mostly silent in the room, the only noise was Matt's ragged breathing. Shida's struggling had gone silent as the earthquake shook her loose of her web, leaving her free to scurry back to her trainer and figure out what was wrong.

It wasn't something Ariana would have normally done. She was in a panic and was having a hard time getting off her back in the earthquake. Ariana didn't like earthquakes for obvious reasons.

After a bit of relative silence in the hall there came a collection of footsteps invading the silence. Lights from flashlights were shone on every wall. The light crawled along the floor of the entryway and a head with ebony locks popped in the door way, peering in curiously to see if he could see anything inside. His face had the same build as the man who had just left the room in a bit of a hurry, albeit fresher with less age lines and defined features as the other man who was there. The very spitting image of James swept his light around, mumbling something to someone else. The light finally settled on Matt. "Matt!"

With help from Riley, Matt had managed to get in a sitting position. His head was spinning and his thoughts were a little hazy, so he used the nearest wall to prop his back up. Riley had pushed himself up on shaking legs was trying to figure out what he was going to do when the beam of light began flashing about the room. The sight of someone looking almost identical to James in the darkness had the Pokémon on edge, advancing carefully to keep this person as far from Matt as he could. Having never met Nathan before, Riley was understandably confusing this young man for the other that had attacked them only minutes earlier. His pincers snapped and clacked threateningly, raising them so that the eye-like patterns could further unnerve the human that had located his trainer.

Nathan yelped and jumped back from the Scizor, his flashlight clattering to the ground. He'd not met Riley before either and also mistook him for the other Scizor that was somewhere around here. Something green and white shoved past Nathan and closed in on Riley, bringing something long and sharp to his throat. The humanoid creature gave a growl in warning, easily reading how injured this Scizor without the use of its psychic abilities: the Pokémon was shaking on his legs moments ago, he was using the pattern on his pincers to unnerve Nathan – a clear defensive maneuver to use – and only sprung when Nathan had located the injured boy.

Finding the light again, the other person there shone it briefly on the Gallade with his sword-like arms against Riley's throat as a warning and then back to Matt. "Matt, call him off," Benn's voice drifted in through the door way. '"It's Nathan and I."

Riley didn't seem to take kindly to the Pokémon that had its blades to his neck, but he didn't move either way; he neither moved to attack nor moved to back down. He and Shida were Matt's last line of defense in here and the boy was already injured from the Ariados. Not to mention, Matt was still sporting bruises all over his ribs from the Tentacruel attack earlier today. Riley was not moving from his spot despite the threatening presence of the Gallade.

Matt, however, had recognized Benn's voice and belatedly realized that it was Nathan that had peeked through the doorway. Adria had messaged her brother earlier and they must have been gone long enough to cause worry. It was a good thing these two had showed up. "Riley." His voice was soft, cracking even, but that was the only word he needed to say to get his Scizor to back off. Riley took a small step back, trying to retain his balance, and lowered his pincers. The humans were free to get to his trainer.

The Gallade lowered his arms when Riley lowered his pincers, retreating a few steps back as the two other trainers stumbled into the room to Matt's side. Benn had something with him: a small box with a handle filled with medical supplies. "It's alright; you're safe now. There are no threats nearby." The Gallade joined him at his side, but stared at the curious Diglett rather than pay any attention to the injured boy or Riley. He sensed no danger nearby, which was good; it was just the three trainers and their Pokémon there. But he also didn't sense the presence of Nathan's sister, and Nathan could see she wasn't there. He grew worried.

"Matt, let me see what's wrong and see if I can't do anything about it right here, right now." It was Benn speaking, trying to get Matt's attention so he could assess the wound that was causing the amount of blood running down Matt's hand.

Matt turned his attention to the two that had very suddenly joined him. Instead of listening to Benn – he probably didn't hear him at all, considering how his mind was elsewhere and his brain was pretty foggy from shock – he reached out with his free hand and caught Nathan's sleeve to get his attention. "Adria... went on ahead..."

While the three trainers spoke and the two newcomers congregated on Matt, Riley had staggered his way over to the corner with the help of the wall. Cerberus had never been fully freed from his cocoon and now Riley was left trying to figure out how he was going to get it down. Shida, who had stayed by Matt, peeked out at the two other trainers curiously. She was covered in hanging threads of silk from the spider web she had escaped, but looked otherwise unharmed.

Nathan blinked. "Adria's..." No wonder she wasn't here. If she was up ahead and hadn't responded yet to the text messages he'd sent, did that mean she was also in trouble? Did James have her?

"Go on Nathan, I'll stay with Matt. We'll meet up later," Benn stated, shooing the other man away. Within seconds the brother was running down the hall, leaving Matt to Ben, the Gallade who was curiously watching Riley move along the wall, and the young Diglett nearby that was watching the scene.


	8. Adria vs Alex

**A/N**

**Super WARNING again; there's blood and violence in this beyond Pokemon fighting. **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 8:** Adria vs. Alex

When Adria had split off with Matt, she continued down the hall quietly and quickly, flashing the light in every room. Typically, in the TV shows and movies the bad guys were always in the deepest part of their hideout, so she guessed that was where Tary would be if she was here. But in each room she looked around for possible threats and also looking for Cerberus. The good news was that she didn't see anything or anyone. The bad news was Cerberus wasn't found either. She hoped he was okay.

Now that they were separated, Ender didn't stray too far from Adria's side. He peeked through walls and around in some of the rooms, but was invariably back at her side as quickly as he had left. It was clear that he had become extra defensive now that Adria was alone, becoming suspicious of every shadow and looking out for danger around every corner. It was starting to worry him that they hadn't come across Cerberus or Tary at this point. Alex was somewhere in this building, along with some other, mysterious figure, and Ender knew how Alex generally worked. She liked to make things difficult for people, so it stood to reason that she would be as far from the exit as possible. This tactic had apparently worked because Matt and Adria had been separated as they were exploring in the base.

Adria knew exactly who this other person was and deeply regretted not warning Matt. The deeper into this abandoned base the traveled, the more she realized that James had likely gone after Matt when they got separated, or he'd have shown up by now. In fact, that trap was probably set up by him. Since Ender said that figure was a substitute, it had to be! She knew the Umbreon knew Substitute as a move.

Checking every room was getting tiresome and almost predictable until near the end of the base, or where there was pile of rubble blocking off the rest of the base. There was a door to the left that was half-buried and still somewhat accessible, but there was no way a grown-up could fit while carrying a child. If Adria got down on her hands and knees she could have squeezed through, but that was probably about it.

The door on the right was mostly unblocked. Dust had been disturbed around the area, indicating that someone had likely gone through the door by moving around some of the rubble. It was in this room that they would probably find who they were looking for. Cerberus was nowhere to be found in here, only a woman and a little girl, accompanied by a few Pokémon.

The Espeon that Alex always had with her was lying draped around the woman's shoulders, contentedly napping. The Tentacruel from the attack earlier that day was not present, but there was a ghostly presence somewhere in the room and a Ninetales was contently preening in a corner close to the door and out of sight of anyone outside the room.

Ender halted Adria in the hallway, motioning to the room on their right but not speaking. Alex was in there, not even making an attempt to hide. In fact, the woman was attempting to bait them both: in full view of the doorway there was a tiny figure huddled in one of the corners, trembling feebly after whatever Alex had done to her.

Glancing to where Ender was motioning, she peered in and saw the huddled little figure. At first she wanted to run in and see if that was Tary and if she was alright, but common sense told her that this was a trap. It was always a trap if it looked too easy. Someone was in there trying to get them inside without a moment's thought. Perhaps it would have worked on Matt right away since Tary was his sister, but since Adria didn't know who Tary was she didn't immediately run in without a single thought. But how else could she go in to help? How else could she go in and help the little girl? "Ender," Adria whispered airily, "is that her? Can you peek in and see what we're up against?" she asked.

This absolutely would have worked on Matt. It didn't matter so much for Ender, because it was often difficult to pin a Ghost Pokémon down, but Matt would have run straight in to get his little sister. Perhaps that was what Alex was mostly relying on; that it was Matt that made it here. It didn't really matter in the long run, though, because Alex was content and happy to torment anyone that came her way.

Ender disappeared without a word, off to investigate the room as stealthily as he could. Alex was probably already aware of their presence because of Adria's flashlight, but she didn't care to really show herself until one or both actually entered the room. When Ender returned a minute later, his report was grim. "That's her, alright," he answered in an equally hushed tone of voice, "but I can't get close. There's another ghost over there, tormenting her." The Haunter was absolutely bristling with anger at the thought of what the other ghost was doing. "But there's also a Ninetales close to the door and Alex is hanging out in one of the corners with Psy."

"Psy is the Espeon, right?" she asked, frowning. There wasn't much to do. Cerberus wasn't there. She had Rylos, but she wasn't sure if he could really help because he didn't know a water type move. Darteng was with her, but he would have been owned in seconds thanks to that Espeon. Darteng had a double weakness to it. As for the ghostly presence... "See if you can't deal with that ghost. I don't know what we could do; I can't think of a plan to get her." Alex was already in there and there was no point in trying to avoid her when there was no other way to get Tary. She wasn't at all ready to go in, but it was probably better than trying to pull some plan that wouldn't work out of her ass.

Ender nodded in response to her first question; Psy was the Espeon and she was very familiar to Ender. "I don't know how well I'll fare against the ghost with Psy in there, but I can give it a shot." Most likely, Ender would be double-teamed the moment he attempted to get close, but he wasn't going to sit around and let that ghost keep tormenting Matt's little sister. "I guess we could go in guns blazing, but whatever you do," Ender placed his hands on Adria's shoulders to stress the gravity of warning, "don't let Alex get close to you. Don't let her get within arm's reach. She's always got a knife on her and she knows how to use it."

Adria's look was very grim in response. "And all I've got is a flashlight..." she frowned. But perhaps Ender was right. Going in with all they had may have been a good option. Darteng would get owned by Psy, but it gave Ender the chance to not be double-teamed. Rylos was part water and dragon, so most attacks didn't bother him. And Firo could probably reflect any moves thrown at someone with Mirror Move. Honey, on the other hand, was too young and would not be released from her Pokéball. As much as Adria knew how dangerous this was, she couldn't have left Honey at home. She was just too young to be on her own.

Pulling out her Pokéballs, she released the three Pokémon she could spare. All together, they would rush in, and Adria would keep herself near the door. "On the count of three," Adria counted softly, fearing what would happen next in the room. Then, finally, she and her Pokémon charged into the room.

Ender frowned at her lack of direct response to his warning, but figured that she understood the gravity of the situation and what would happen if she got too close to Alex. Now, they needed to get moving; they would strike hard and fast to take out as many Pokémon of Alex's that they could. The less Pokémon they had to worry about, the better.

Ender charged in along with the rest, disappearing abruptly the moment they were through the door. He was off to confront the ghost Pokémon that was guarding Tary. Before any attacks could be launched, however, Psy used Flash; she had specifically been taught this move for this confrontation. The room lit up without warning, all except the corner where Tary was huddled. The ghostly presence there kept the area in shadows, peeking out with red eyes at the intruders.

"So, you've finally decided to join us. I must say, I'm a little surprised to see you instead of my boy." Alex spoke from her position leaning casually against the wall. Her hood was still up and Psy was still draped lazily about her shoulders. "Though, I'm always happy to play with new people."

Adria and her entire team flinched away from the blinding flash, turning away from the source to shield their eyes. She had overlooked the possibility that the Pokémon would know and use Flash. It was a great move to use to catch the enemy off guard, though but was a really bad move to be on the wrong side of. Adria didn't know what to say, really. 'Stop, you fiend'? 'I am here to save Tary!'? 'Matt couldn't make it. He kind of fell into some trap thanks to James, which I'm almost positive was meant for me, but instead he's there and I'm here'?

Even if Adria didn't treat this as a joke, several replies came to mind, but these comments were very likely just a waste of breath. She remained silent, rubbing her eyes and trying to gain her sight back again after it was violated by the blinding light. "Rylos, smoke screen!" Within moments, the Kingdra had released a cloud of smoke that filled the room. As the room filled with the black smoke, it came to Adria's attention that this was how they could have made their entrance, under the cover of a heavy smoke screen. It was too late now. Ender had told her to stay away from Alex so she kept her back to the ball, the door to her immediate right should she need it.

The sounds of battle began. Off in the corner, something was making an ugly shrieking sound as Ender attempted to get close. Psy had leaped into the fray, eager to find a target. The Ninetales also seemed eager to get into a fight. The smokescreen was an obstacle to them all, but it wouldn't last forever and everyone would be fighting mostly blind in the meantime.

Alex was also making her move, slipping into the smokescreen to see what she could do. Tary was being guarded by a Pokémon, so there was no need to worry about her right now. Instead, Alex was curious to find out more about this girl. It was James's girl that had made it all the way into the bowels of the base, not her boy, but she was going to make the best of this. "Just who are you, anyway? James mentioned you, but I don't actually know how you're connected to my boy," her voice drifted over the sounds of battle.

Darteng tried his best to steer clear of the Espeon and look for that Ninetales, instead. Rylos remained where he was for the most part. His ability to sort of float above the ground by only inches allowed him to move, but he didn't seem particularly fond of the idea of moving away from his young girl. Firo clacked around in the black smoke in search of that Espeon. The fog didn't affect him thanks to his Keen Eye, so he was able to see perfectly fine in the smokescreen.

Adria bit her lip, inching a bit closer to the door. "Matt and I met by pure chance; there's nothing beyond that." Adria answered immediately. She was a bit unnerved by the woman. Ender had said she was a dangerous person and had a knife on her and Adria didn't want to chance him being wrong about it for this particular occasion. "We'll probably part ways once this mess is over," she added a bit louder, trying to make her point of not really having a connection with him a bit clearer. Besides, Adria didn't plan on going back out any time soon after this. James was back and was aware she was around again. Plus, Honey was too young for an adventure. If not for the danger of Alex, Adria wouldn't have tagged along with Matt in the first place.

Matt had expressed his displeasure of her joining him on this dangerous mission; he hadn't wanted Adria to get mixed up with Alex, but the annoyingly stubborn girl had insisted on tagging along. This whole little quest had turned into quite the mess, and it wouldn't be surprising if Adria found herself regretting coming along now that she was facing Alex practically on her own.

A girlish giggle escaped from the thick smoke, coming from no particular direction relevant to Adria. "You are a very interesting person, you know. Claiming to not be affiliated with my boy and yet tagging along after him and straight into danger? You knew this would be dangerous and you followed him anyway. Somehow, I don't believe you when you say you'll part ways after this."

The fighting in the room continued. Psy was darting about the floor to avoid getting into a head-to-head battle with anyone. She preferred to strike from behind at any Pokémon she happened to be near. The Ninetales was slinking through the smoke, breathing fire every which way. Her fellow Pokémon knew to stay away from her and her attacks, so they were well out of the way of any fire. Ender was in a violent battle in the corner, trying to get the other ghost away from the little girl; it was not working out very well.

Because of the severity of the danger in this quest, Adria couldn't _not_ help Matt find his sister. It wasn't something she wanted Matt to face alone. She'd thought that it was only Alex they were dealing with, and the idea of heading into the danger to face off with Matt against Alex seemed like a better option than sitting at home and wondering if he'd be alright, at least to Adria. That was until Dyavol had suddenly shown up and revealed James's part in these events. Even after finding this out, Adria pressed on, though not because she was brave enough to possibly face James. It was because she didn't want to back out suddenly.

"And what makes you so sure?" Adria hissed, searching through the black smoke for any approaching shadows, creeping away from her current spot and edging along the wall again. "About not believing we'll part ways?" Even if she had accepted the invitation to travel with him in the future, that would be in the future, and in the future they would probably forget about each other. Adria had Honey to care for, though that certainly wasn't the only thing.

Firo used his Mirror Move against any and all attacks that came his way, though was especially looking out for Psy. With his Keen Eye, he could locate her and chase after her in the smoke, squawking out and attempting to chase after her with Pursuit; a move that could attack even the fleeing foes before they were fully gone. Darteng was almost blind in the patch of smoke, though he was still looking for a fight with the Ninetales, attempting to find her and strike her using his Poison Jab to poison her and weaken her a bit.

The mess of a battle was completely out of control in the center of the room and there was probably going to be some serious collateral damage to the already partially destroyed room they were in. The Ninetales was refusing to back down; unluckily for Firo using his Mirror Move, the Ninetales had the ability Flash Fire and the reflected attacks were doing nothing but making the Fire Pokémon even stronger. Psy was staying as far away from the Fearow in the room, though had been scored by Pursuit once or twice already, and was making an attempt to sneak up behind Darteng to take him out of the fight.

Alex took her sweet time to answer, apparently listening to the battle to size up how it was going. "Oh, I don't know. You two seem to be getting pretty friendly, as far as I've seen, and you've followed him straight into certain danger. It's cute, really. Too bad you left him all on his own in James's trap. As far as I'm aware, though, he'll still be alive after that encounter. Maybe." She was rambling now, content to talk aloud to herself and uncaring if Adria was actually listening or not. "I think you two might just stick together after this. Or, at the very least, I'll make sure of it. You're just too fun to mess around with, and we haven't even really gotten started yet!"

Darteng and Firo seem to be making some sort of noise to inform one another about the targets. Firo could see through the smoke, which was fading and filtering out into the hall more and more with each passing moment, but otherwise had a bit of an upper hand. He wanted to try to take out the Espeon quickly, chirping out to Darteng where the purple cat was prowling around while the frog croaked out about how he needed to not use Mirror Move against the Ninetales since it was only enhancing her power.

Adria narrowed her eyes, creeping along in the black smoke again and away from where she was standing. She was still wary of Alex since Ender gave her that warning. "Being friendly doesn't mean we'll travel together. Being friendly means being friendly." Although she didn't know how this woman would make sure the two would stick together in the future, she didn't want to find out. "You're a mad woman, and I don't believe you'll be able to keep the two of us together in the future. We'll part ways once this mess is dealt with and we take Tary from you." She sounded quite confident. Now that Nathan and Benn were aware of Alex, they would search for her and try to apprehend her.

Another giggle drifted through the dimly lit room. The smoke made it almost impossible to see anything, but the light was still present and it was becoming more and more obvious where Alex was. The hooded woman had chosen to occupy the doorway, blocking Adria into the room with all the Pokemon. "I'm not mad," she responded, leaning casually against the doorway, "I'm just pleasantly surprised that you're here instead of Matt." The woman grinned as she purposefully antagonized Adria with her words. "And good luck with whatever your plans are. I don't think they're going to work." Alex was being very passive in the battle so far. Ender had mentioned that she had a knife and knew how to use it, but she had made no move to attack Adria directly just yet. Part of the reason for that was the fact that Rylos was hanging around the girl, but she mostly wanted to see how this would play out first.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon battle seemed to be going swimmingly. The Ninetales was powered up with her own fire that had been mirrored by Firo and was using that to practically light the entire room up. Ender protected himself and Tary from the intense blaze, at the cost of being attacked from behind by the Gengar that had revealed itself. Tary was still mostly cloaked in shadows, so it was difficult to tell just how she was faring. Whatever the case, it seemed that she wasn't willing or wasn't capable of helping during the fight, as she hadn't moved from her spot in the corner. As the smoke cleared, her trainer bag could be seen sitting in another corner and well out of both Tary's and Adria's reach; not like her Pokémon would have been much use in such a high caliber fight. Both Adria and Alex were stronger than her.

Rylos didn't know a single water-type move to help fight off the blazing Pokémon, but allowed his trainer to stick close to his side and away from the deranged woman. As the smoke cleared up, he sent out several yawn bubbles above, close to the ceiling and towards the Ninetales and Espeon, both Pokémon having about two of the bubbles for them, and allowed Adria to huddle behind his cool body and protect her from the intense flames of the fire Pokémon, as she was able to feel the flames from where she was.

Firo was unable to escape the attack and was taken down almost instantly. He was the second weakest on Adria's team and was quick to faint. Darteng was the third weakest, just short of the half way point into Pokémon growth. He caked himself in mud using Mud Bomb, belching the substance onto himself for some extra protection from the Ninetales's fire attack. His Dry Skin wasn't good for the fire, and began to summon clouds in the room for a Rain Dance to weaken the fire power and replenish his health before crouching somewhere to try and avoid the flames as best he could.

The Ninetales needed to be taken out quickly; she was dealing some seriously devastating attacks to Adria's Pokémon. Luckily for Adria, one of Rylos's Yawn attacks reached the Fire type and she staggered dizzily before slumping to the floor and curling up for a nap. Alex laughed at the sight of her Pokémon being put to sleep. "Well, wasn't that rather adorable." She had thought it was rather cute when her Ninetales curled up in the middle of the floor as if it hadn't just devastated the room. With the Ninetales temporarily out of the fight, everyone in the room was safe from her fire attacks until she woke up.

Now that the smoke was clearing out of the room and the light was once again visible, the status of the fights became a little clearer. Ender was losing against a ghost type stronger than himself, despite knowing several super effective moves. The Gengar knew just as devastating moves, and used Hypnosis to put the talking Haunter to sleep. That was three Pokémon out of the fight so far: Ninetales, Firo, and Ender. Psy was bouncing about; lithe and amazing at dodging the annoying Yawn bubbles as well as any other attacks that ended up sent her way. She sprinted for Darteng now that the Pokémon had practically cornered itself.

Covered in mud and slowly replenishing his health as the cloud formation grew dark and spilled out rain, he could see that Psy was coming his way. He knew it would be over, but he wanted to take out that Ninetales with one Mud Bomb if he could now that she was asleep and take the powerful fox out of the battle for the time being. Using the last effort move, he belched out more mud at the Ninetales before Psy could reach him.

Although Adria had to admit to herself that it was rather adorable to suddenly see a fierce Pokémon curl up and fall asleep in the middle of the battle ground, she didn't answer Alex. With the smoke filtered out of the room and disappearing into the hall and any tiny crack in the walls of this abandoned base, both Alex and Adria were able to see one another, which didn't make Adria all that happy. She was still huddled behind Rylos, using him as the only wall between her and whatever harm was coming. Rylos didn't seem to care he was being used as a wall. He wasn't pleased with the result of the battle, seeing Ender and Firo out of the fight so far. Firo was much weaker than anyone with an exception of Honey, but was the weakest among the Pokémon here, most likely. Rylos was the last line of defense for Adria. He was her strongest Pokémon.

The Mud Bomb scored a hit against the sleeping Ninetales, taking her out of the fight for good. With Darteng attacking the fire opponent, however, Psy had a free shot while he was distracted and used that chance to try taking him out with a powerful Psychic attack. That would take one more Pokémon out of the game.

In the corner, Ender was suffering. This Gengar knew the move Nightmare and it was a painful experience for anyone caught in such an attack. It was taking chunks of his health away from him while he was already relatively injured from the Gengar's previous attacks.

And, with only the Gengar, Psy, and Rylos still in the fight, Adria was outnumbered. Psy was careful to watch the Dragon Pokémon that refused to leave his trainer's side; she needed to figure out how she was going to take this Pokémon out so Alex could get to Adria.

After that Psychic attack, Darteng was out of the battle. It continued to rain in that small section of the room, despite Darteng being taken out of the battle. Adria found she was biting her lip again as Darteng fainted. Now it was Rylos against the Espeon; that Gengar was still there, too. Perhaps Rylos could attack the Gengar with Dragon Pulse.

With nowhere to run, Adria was rather trapped. It was a bad idea coming along in the middle of this danger, she admitted, but she'd assumed that she and Matt wouldn't have been separated and they would have been able to deal with Alex more efficiently. She found herself questioning what she'd gotten herself into. It was for Matt's younger sister she tagged along to help, but it didn't seem she was helping very much. She was on her last legs with Rylos while the mad woman had two Pokémon left, both seeming to be faring quite well. "Dragon Pulse on the Gengar," Adria instructed quietly.

The Kingdra drew in a breath to ready his Dragon Pulse and built up the power for it in his mouth and released a blue beam packed with power toward the Espeon rather than the Gengar. Rylos didn't like to listen all the time.

It was probably a good thing that Rylos hadn't listened. The Gengar was still guarding Tary in the corner while using Nightmare on Ender and an attack in that direction could have very well harmed the little girl if the Gengar moved out of the way. With how much the Gengar had used nightmare on his opponent, Ender was probably out of the battle for good, now. That left the Gengar free to do what he liked, though he still seemed rather keen on sticking to the corner and tormenting the little girl in the shadows.

Alex, meanwhile, was planning to make her move soon. As soon as she could get Rylos distracted or out of the way she would be able to close in on Adria and have some real fun. She was just itching to get close and use her knife; it had been a while since she had a little hands-on fun; aside from Tary today, of course.

Psy did what she could to avoid the attack, but was still knocked back by the force of it. She wasn't out of the fight yet, though; her Psychic was neither weak nor strong against Rylos, but that was fine with her. It was a powerful attack and she darted forward to try and attack him with it. Rylos may have been the strongest on Adria's team, but he wouldn't be able to last forever against the Espeon and the Gengar, both of which were strong in their own right.

Rylos turned his full attention to the battle against Psy and whipped up a fierce wind, pulling dust and debris from the corners of the room and sending it Psy's way in a Twister against her. His only two damage-dealing attacks were Dragon Pulse and Twister, both of which were neither super effective nor not very effective against the psychic Pokémon. In this battle, it was merely a match of special power and special defense.

The Twister didn't reach far enough to get to the Espeon before the Psychic took effect against Rylos. The stones and dirt dropped to the ground with heavy clatter as he took the attack as best he could. But Kingdra were all-around durable and powerful. His attacks and defenses were at about the same power level, though against an Espeon with a powerful Psychic, it would only take a few hits to knock out a Kingdra with full health.

Since the Twister hadn't reached her where she was standing, Psy chose to stay that distance away. It was her best bet of taking out the Dragon Pokémon before he could really hurt her. From her position several feet away, she continued her onslaught of Psychic, trying to take him out quickly before he recovered and attacked her again. She wanted this fight to be over with. It had been hard enough to deal with the other two Pokémon in the Smokescreen and she just wanted to go back to napping, now.

Alex was watching with baited breath, waiting for the moment that she could finally strike at her target. She was nothing if not patient, however, and so stood her ground in the doorway as she waited for the battle to conclude.

Rylos made another attempt to hit the Espeon with a Dragon pulse, though the attempt wasn't quite as strong as before. After a minute or so longer, Rylos gave into the power and was out of the battle for good. Adria was left without a single Pokémon to help her and keep Alex and her Pokémon at bay. She was completely defenseless now and completely at the mercy of Alex. Without the Pokémon she had no help, there was no way she would make it out of this alright in any way.

Adria fumbled her hands into her bag, but found nothing to help her in any way. All she had was a flashlight, Honey in her Pokéball, the deck of playing cards, and a few other things that would be of absolute no help to her. She panicked, looking back toward Alex.

Alex had moved away from the door frame now, practically waltzing toward her prey. "I bet you're regretting tagging along right about now," she commented, reaching a hand into the left pocket of her jacket and pulling out a switchblade. From the way it shone in the dim light of Flash, it was obviously that it was a well taken care of weapon and Alex treasured it. She advanced on the younger girl, her intentions clear. "Psy, watch the door."

The Espeon leaped to her task, despite wanting nothing more than to curl up and take a nap. Alex wanted to be sure that Adria was not going anywhere and that no one would interrupt. Should James join them, then Psy would let her know. There was no telling just when James was going to be done with Matt.

She did regret tagging along, but only because she was alone. She wouldn't have been alone here to face Alex if James had stayed out of this. But he had wrapped himself up in this mess and was one of the reasons they had gotten separated. She hadn't thought that they would be separated, which was why she did tag along. There were so many factors Adria hadn't counted on that had led to this trouble. She couldn't ever say she regretted it from the beginning because in the beginning there was nothing to regret.

Looking at her options, there was nothing she could do at this point, and she didn't seem fond of the idea of having a blade run across her skin. She stepped backwards and away from the woman, keeping an eye on her as she did, fear shining clearly in her eyes.

Alex giggled again, able to read the fear printed clear across Adria's face, advancing further without hesitation. "So afraid of little old me? You seemed pretty brave this morning when you were facing off against my good friend Relo." That must have been the Tentacruel she had out; it was the only one that Adria had personally faced. Adria had seemed pretty brave this morning, though, leaping into the water and taking on the Tentacruel with her Pokémon by her side. She wasn't so brave now that she didn't have any Pokémon with her.

Alex continued to draw closer and closer, blade at the ready yet sitting loosely in her fingers. There was no escape for Adria. She could run as much as she liked in this little room, but she would eventually be cornered.

Adria stepped further and further away from Alex as she advanced. "Th-that was different! It was Pokémon against Pokémon!" Adria stuttered out. It was different, wasn't it? That time they had used Pokémon to attack humans, and there was only one target to attack. They only had to save Matt from the Tentacruel and Adria had several Pokémon pitted against it. In the end it was a success since the only goal was to get Matt from its clutches. After that, Alex had called Relo back.

This time it was much different. Adria had several battles going on at a time, and Alex neither recalled her Pokémon nor seemed to let her Pokémon go easy and attack a single person. That was different, she kept saying, kept convincing herself.

"But still, jumping into the water where there was an angry Pokémon; that was a pretty gutsy move. You're a pretty gutsy girl. It's a lot different when it's just you and me, isn't it?" Alex continued, moving slightly quicker and changing the direction she was coming at Adria from to try backing her into a corner. She was getting excited and she wanted to get a few good shots in at her. "Now be a good girl and hold still so I can have a little fun before I run off." It would be best if she left as soon as she could; she was aware that Adria had messaged someone about their location. It would be best if she and James left before whoever she had messaged showed up.

Adria changed her direction as Alex did, not aware she was being backed into a corner. The parameters of the room had slipped her mind as the need and will to survive and escape began to take over. "Like I said... that was different!" Adria repeated uselessly. "I had Pokémon who were equally angry with me in the fight in the water against the angry Pokémon, not a team to pit and lose horribly against another team and a mad-woman with a-a switch blade!" Adria protested, backing up further until her back hit a wall. _Shit!_ she inwardly cursed, throwing glances to either side of her, then attempted to dive to one of the sides to get away from Alex.

"No you don't!" Alex lunged forward as Adria attempted to dart away and latched onto her arm. That would keep Adria from getting too far away from her again. Now that Adria was in her clutches, Alex could have a little fun. "Would it help at all if I told you that I don't plan on killing you? I just want to have a little fun first. After I have my fun, I'll let you go and you can take the girl and be on your merry way," as she spoke, she gestured to Tary with her blade. "If you're still fit to walk, that is."

Adria panicked and yanked her arm back to get it loose, gripping Matt's flashlight tightly in her other hand and swinging it at Alex to get her to let go. This idea of 'fun' wasn't appealing, even if Alex had no intention of actually killing her. Even knowing this, Adria wouldn't stop fighting the mad woman. "No!" She squealed in protest, trying to detach herself from the woman's grasp. She was scared of the knife and the unbearable sting that came with cuts and gashes, scared of sharp things which could slice open almost anything. She was scared of knives because of how easily they could cut with just a graze onto a surface. She was scared of the 'fun' this woman would have in mind.

Alex hung on gamely, refusing to let go of her prey even when Adria was swinging the flashlight at her. It struck her upside the head and knocked her hood loose, exposing what was underneath. Honestly, the woman looked very average. Her hair was brown and cut short, styled into a pixie cut. Her eyes were also brown, though there was something about them that was very strange without actually looking any different than a normal pair of eyes. The resemblance to Matt was evident in her face, and the same could be said about Tary, although Adria hadn't actually laid eyes on the little girl's face just yet. The grin was even more prominent now that he hood was down and the shadows didn't veil her features. She was excited. "Now that wasn't very nice."

Alex shifted her position abruptly and twisted Adria's arm hard behind her back to both throw her off balance and cause pain in her shoulder. This move would also, hopefully, shift Adria so she could no longer swing and hit Alex with the flashlight.

Seeing her face only made Adria even more fearful. Eyeing that sinister grin of hers, she yelped out in both surprise and pain as she was suddenly twisted into a most uncomfortable and even more so painful position, nearly falling face-first into the cracked wall of the room. The flashlight would no longer be at her aid, as it hurt to squirm about and attempt to swing the object again at Alex. She prayed for someone to come in suddenly to help her, to save her from this sadistic beast of a woman. She was cruel and twisted in the head!

Adria had contacted her brother a bit ago and could feel her phone vibrating in her back pocket. He was calling, and she had no means of answering it with her arm bent back. She knew it was Nathan because only Nathan would call her at a time like this, or call for that matter. Nathan called even when she found it easier to text. He called her despite her urging to simply text. She only allowed her grandparents to call, and they only called on the weekends. It was Thursday. She knew even without looking at the caller I'D picture it was Nathan because only Nathan called. He was checking in, which also meant he was only on his way if he wasn't outside the base already. He was most likely on his way, meaning the only help she could get for a while would be from Matt, who was with James.

Alex heard the tell-tale sounds of the phone's vibration and her grin widened noticeably. "Ah, I'll guess that's going to be whoever you contacted before you entered the base. Too bad they won't be able to help you out of this situation." Suddenly, the knife blade was at Adria's throat, pressing gently against her jugular to warn her that squirming would not be tolerated. "Drop the flashlight, please. I don't particularly want to be hit again." The knife pressed into the girl's skin, just barely nicking it and letting a drop of blood or two to flow from the tiny wound. It was a warning of what might happen should she not comply, as well as a promise of what would happen in the future even if she did comply. Alex was not gentle with her toys.

Adria swallowed hard, freezing completely in her grasp. The image of the tiny nick popped into her head, growing into a relatively long, painful slice across her throat, blood spilling freely down her neck, staining her shirt within precious seconds, her life ending there. She could imagine Nathan running frantically through the dusty halls of the abandoned base only to find a body with absolutely nothing for him.

Adria didn't like those visions of what could happen if she didn't comply and obey this woman and her wishes. She didn't want to die, she valued her life. Her brother treasured it. Their mother would be heartbroken. Grandma would keel over with a heart attack, Grandad following her, or the other way around. Chain events would occur if she ignored the warning. It was either her life or the flashlight, and she'd much rather keep her blood in her body. It was, after all, kind of important to living and all. She dropped the flashlight, listening to it clatter against the ground. The bulb was probably broken now.

"Good. Very good. Now we can have a little fun. Just a little; I promised James I wouldn't kill you." It was no fun to actually kill a target, after all. Killing someone was a permanent end to their life and it didn't leave much in the way of future fun and encounters. All Alex really wanted was a little fun; it was too bad that her particular brand of 'fun' wasn't legal or sane in any way.

The knife was retracted from Adria's throat for the time being, leaving her with a little more freedom of movement now that her life wasn't at stake should she so much as twitch. Alex wouldn't allow her such freedom for long, though, and brought the butt of her switchblade down on Adria's ribs to bruise and wind the girl. Bruises were one of Alex's favorite things to inflict on her toys; it was right up there with little cuts and slices through their skin to let the blood flow free.

The girl yelped out with staggered breath. Her instincts were to move away from what was causing her pain, but that only further caused her pain with the little freedom of movement that remained while Alex held her in the same position. By now, she was aware that this was going to cause some mental breakdown in the future and scar her in some way other than the physical damage. She found herself already seeking safe havens among the homes she knew of to escape to and hide in until the memories of pain were no more, and there was nothing in the outside world that could hurt her. There were many places she could go after this, at least until the danger disappeared.

Alex seemed to just drink in her pain and terror, absolutely pleased with how things were turning out. With Adria's Pokémon down, she now had some alone time with the girl. Alex's Pokémon were watching, but they made no move to interfere. It was just Adria and Alex now.

The woman shifted her position slightly and slipped a foot around to the front of Adria; she pushed against Adria's back at the same time she yanked her foot back to force Adria to trip and take her to the ground where Alex could have a little more fun. What proceeded from there could only be described as a severe beating as Alex used both her fist and the butt of her blade to deal bruises anywhere she could reach.

The whole process melted together in Adria's mind. The beating seemed like just a beating that lasted a century. Blow after blow after blow rained down on her and all she could do was squirm and cry out, pleading for help that had yet to show up. She was stuck in the world of pain and suffering under the hands of this woman, salty tears staining her bruised world. At this point she wanted to curl up into a ball and endure this, but she'd have to endure the pain without curling up. It was more painful that way without the defensive position, but there was no choice to be made. She couldn't fight back, not against this woman. She was insane to think this was somehow fun and not cruel. She was absolutely insane.

When Alex seemed to have finished beating her, she turned the knife so that she would be using the point instead of the butt. Now for a few finishing touches. The cuts she opened across Adria's back were small and shallow and there weren't very many; she didn't want Adria to die of blood loss, after all. She had promised not to kill the girl, and so would stay good to her word.

The last few cuts that Alex wanted to make were spread across Adria's lower back. They were small, straight lines that connected together in some cases and formed a simple, capitalized word: 'MINE'.

The blade was removed from Adria's back, flipped back into its handle, and then stashed back in Alex's pocket. With her hand now free, Alex took hold of Adria's hair and pulled her head back so she could speak to the girl's face. "There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Screams filled the entire room as the sting of the blade seeped past her skin: shrill screeches echoing through the room and down the hall. Her screams and frantic crying didn't stop until the very end when Alex pulled the damned blade away, reducing to light sobs and heavy trembles. The cool air nipped at her skin and played with the fresh wound, violating the cut in any way it unintentionally could. A heavy shudder ran through her as she tried to level her breath, flinching when Alex pulled her head up by her hair. She didn't answer. She refused to answer. It was bad, though; it was very bad for Adria. She stared at Alex with a mixture of fear, hate, and anger, but had no energy to even think of how she could possibly rebel, even in some small form of saliva in Alex's face. Along with the small amount of blood, Adria's energy was leaving her body, only in much larger loads.

Alex acted as if Adria had reacted in some way, releasing her hair as she spoke, "I didn't think so." The cruel woman stood, moving away from Adria to get her things. "Now, I hate to play and run, but you've got back-up incoming and I think I should go find my new friend. I'd love to catch up and swap a few stories." As she continued to speak, Alex was recalling her Ninetales and moving to pick Psy up. The Espeon retook her position on Alex's shoulders, watching Adria impassively. The Gengar remained in the corner, tiny clawed hands on Tary's head. "Stay here, Gengar, and keep an eye on these two for a little while. Don't attack or otherwise engage anyone that comes in, just report back to me when someone shows up." Alex stole a glance at Adria, "I'm curious to see who's coming for her." A pause as Alex double checked that she had everything she had brought. "Welp! I guess I'm out of here, then! Toodles~" Her goodbye was punctuated by a cheery wave before she practically skipped out the door.

Adria waited until she could no longer hear the footsteps of Alex before she struggled onto her hands in knees, flinching and crying silently to herself from the pain left behind in the form of black and blue and purple, and the red that stained one of her favorite shirts. She crawled along the floor to where the dark shadow was and where the young girl huddled up, the Gengar still at her side. She didn't know if the sinister ghost would allow her to go near, but she wanted to see if she could get close to help her. Plus, she didn't like it tormenting the small girl with wicked nightmares. Soon, though, her brother would arrive. He would arrive soon.

That must have been the reason that Tary had said and done nothing; the girl wasn't even aware that Adria was in the room. She hadn't been conscious for quite some time. The Gengar was keeping her asleep, perpetually using Hypnosis when it seemed like she might come around due to noise or pain or any outside stimulus. The Gengar knew the move Nightmare and was utilizing it, forcing nightmares upon the 11-year-old to further torment her. Signs of Alex's fun were scattered all over her. Similar to Adria, she was absolutely covered in bruises; the bruises were slightly more extensive due to just how much time she had spent alone with Alex. There were also cuts littered about rather infrequently, some of the worst of which had been sloppily bandaged over to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Even in sleep, Tary was crying, though it was hard to tell what the actual cause was. Whether it was pain, the nightmares, or both, was probably irrelevant. She had curled in on herself and was trembling terribly as she slept.

The Gengar was watching Adria warily, though didn't seem too adverse to letting her near. If she tried to wake Tary up, however, he would probably make a move to stop her. These Nightmares were positively delicious and he wasn't going to let Adria spoil his fun too soon.

Even as a black shadow was taking over her sight from sheer exhaustion, Adria could say for a fact that she didn't like the condition that this little girl was in. Alex had did a number on her, and continued to torment her without even being in the room! She was a monster, a horrific, sadistic monster. To torment a young girl like so without any remorse, to seek the _joy_ and _fun_ out of it was wrong on so many levels; Alex was wrong on so many levels.

Adria realized that she wouldn't be able to reach Tary, and gave up. Help would arrive soon enough. Soon enough, her brother would appear in the doorway and take Tary away from the Gengar, and his sister away from the base with Tary. Any minute now.

* * *

Frantic footsteps clopped down the hallway, growing closer and closer to the room, a voice reaching out into every room calling out the name of his sister. "Adria! Adria!" the younger version of James called, shining his light into the last room. Immediately he was at his sister's side, horrified by her physical state and checking for a heartbeat and breathing: she had both, thankfully. His eye was drawn to the other small figure huddled in the corner. _This must be Matt's sister!_ he thought. He couldn't see her face so he couldn't be sure, but who else would it be? But that Gengar was there. Would he need to duke it out in a Pokémon battle to get to her? His hand rested on the side of his waist where he had several Pokéballs clipped, counting to 4 from the front, watching the Gengar for any sort of movement.

The Gengar watched the young man's movement, but seemed to be content to stay at Tary's side. He didn't make any threatening moves, though one might consider his very presence next to a little girl rather threatening. When Nathan looked over at him and made as if he was going to throw a Pokémon into battle, the Ghost type hissed in displeasure. This wasn't a fight he wanted to get into; Alex had specifically told him not to get into a fight with anyone who showed up. Instead, he sank into the shadows, moving along in the rather dark room towards the other corner, where Tary's bag had been left. He peeked out at Nathan from there, not yet completely leaving the room. Alex hadn't wanted him to engage in combat, but that didn't mean he couldn't stick around and gather some information on this boy. Intel was always good for Alex.

The young man unclipped his Pokéball and released a rather calm Alakazam into the room. The Alakazam took one look around the room and had a look of being very displeased firmly on his features. What a mess. Fainted Pokémon littered the ground. Then there was that ghostly presence in one of the other corners. He didn't pay it much attention since the Gengar didn't seem like it would attack soon and instead used his Psychic abilities to clean up a bit while his trainer gingerly lifted the young girl in the corner and brought her closer to his sister. He and Benn would meet up elsewhere. Within moments, Pokémon were recalled, bags were nearby, and Nathan had Ender with him as well, and the small group simply teleported out of the room.


	9. The Resistance and The Villains

**A/N**

**Welcome back to all those who haven't forgotten that this exists and are still interested in reading! I've been lazily slacking off in editing all this, so I have quite a bit of writing that just needs to be posted into Word and then copied over here. Let me tell you! Koilate and I write an awful lot.**

**Speaking of writing, I hear tell that she's started work on a little bit of back story for a few of her characters. Most of these characters haven't appeared here in the story yet, but that's okay! They will soon enough. For now, this is a slightly more relaxing chapter in which everyone talks about everything and the villains have a villainous-ly good time just being evil friends. **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

* * *

**Chapter 9:** The Resistance and The Villains

"I want her moved into this room, that way she'll be in the same room as her brother. It's only fitting."

"Benn, are you sure they're allowed in here?"

"This is the safest place for them. Now we have a new enemy to keep an eye out for. This one's dangerous and sneaky, from what I hear. No one's found out where this base was since this place started running, thanks to Ten, Les and Rix. They're affiliated with Nathan, so it's fine to have them here. Now take these to your father, Sam, and tell him these should clear that headache of his in a few hours. And thanks for delivering the message to the nurses for me-"

"But you never asked-"

"Didn't I? Then please tell the nurse to move the girl in here. Please and thank you."

This conversation was the first thing Matt heard when he started to come around. Half of it seemed like complete gibberish and there were several names he couldn't recognize. Sam? He'd never met a Sam. Ten, Les, and Rix? Those didn't even sound like names, but from whatever context he could vaguely grasp, it seemed like they were being used as names. Of people? Maybe. Regardless, this was the first thing that floated into his brain when he awoke. The second was a question: Where am I?

Well, there was only one way to answer that. Matt needed to open his eyes and take a look around. The first thing he really registered when he attempted to open his eyes was that one of them refused to open. He couldn't feel it, of course, being that he was feeling rather numb, but when he cracked open his eyes, his range of vision was more limited than he thought it should be. The ceiling swam in and out of his vision, so he raised a hand to his head to try rubbing away the fogginess in his brain. What the heck was going on?

Footsteps moved away from Matt as something on wheels was being moved into the room. "Put her over there, please," Benn's voice was soft, but firm in his instructions. The wheels squeaked every couple of seconds as they grew closer to Matt's right, only about two feet away from him.

"Doc, he's coming around," came a soft female voice. Footsteps, then Benn was at Matt's side.

"Matt," he was at Matt's left, peering over the red-head. "Matt, can you hear me? It's Benn."

Matt's mind was hazy, trying to figure out exactly what was going on and what all these noises were. Footsteps. Something rolling along the ground. Voices... Voices? Yeah, someone was talking to him. "Hm?" His question wasn't so much of a question as it was an inquisitive sound because he hadn't yet found his voice in any coherent capacity. He had responded to Benn, though, and that had to be a good sign. Awake, aware, and probably more than slightly dazed; Matt was alright. For the most part. Bandages wound around his head and there was a thick patch over his right eye; the eye that had been scored by Ariana in the fight with James. The pain had mostly receded, but that was probably because he was more or less numb there.

Benn gave a light chuckle in response to Matt's little sound. He was awake and aware. The man smiled to himself. "Good to hear you're aware." That was all he said for the next few minutes, allowing Matt to wake up further and process his surroundings and where he was and what was going on, or fall back asleep, whichever happened next. Benn would be there regardless, even if he fell back asleep and woke up later. He was a doctor, after all, and it was his job to be there for his patients. He was a patient person and would wait for whoever needed him. For now, he was content scribbling something down on a clipboard.

Matt took those few minutes of silence to gather himself and figure out where he was. His head stopped spinning, finally, and he was able to stare up at the ceiling with one eye and figure out what was going on. He was somewhere in some kind of a hospital, that much he could tell by the calm presence of Benn and his surroundings. When he thought he finally had full control of his muscles, he levered himself into a sitting position with the help of his arms. "What..." he needed to pause a moment to catch his breath and regain his voice. "Where am I?" There was the question he wanted to ask. The next two were probably going to be obvious: 'What happened?' and 'Where is my sister?' in no particular order.

Benn could only guess what his other questions would be after this one and answered all three of them. "Nathan and I found you in that abandoned base. You were injured and eventually passed out from the pain. Luckily it seemed we got there soon after you got hurt. We took you, Adria, and your sister Tary to the hospital to stabilize you before having all three of you transfer here, into safer hands. By 'here', I mean in the Resistance, which is the name of the organization I am part of. You're resting in the medical wing right now. And your sister is on your right. Over all she's fine, physically. Mentally, however… Well, I can only guess it won't be pretty," he answered.

The mention of his sister had Matt's full attention, making him almost completely disregard all other information, and when he learned that she was close by he looked to make sure. She was there, alright, asleep and resting. The bruises were plain to see, as well as the dark circles under her eyes probably caused by the continued use of Nightmare against her. Matt didn't know that fact, but he knew Alex and knew the kind of things she could and would do. Still, it was a relief to see that she was here and alright. Physically. Benn was right; there was no telling how Tary would fare mentally after what had happened. It wasn't like this was the first time she had been attacked by Alex, but it didn't get any easier.

When he was assured of her health and presence, he turned back to Benn with a few more questions knocking about in his head. "Adria?" What had happened to her, and Ender for that matter, after they had split up? Was she okay? What had happened between her and Alex?

Benn pointed somewhere toward the door. "Across the hall," he answered simply. "Bruised, but physically alright." Again, he couldn't speak for her mental condition. "Your ghost Pokémon is probably still recovering with the other Pokémon, but I don't know for sure. I'm not a Pokémon doctor," he shrugged. The medical bay for Pokémon was down the hall. "Cerberus is there, as well. He got a beating, but he's relatively fine; just in a really bad mood, is all," he shrugged again. He didn't get any closer than he had to with Cerberus in quite a huff. Being confined in sticky webbing after getting a beating by Syler or Ariana wasn't exactly something he enjoyed. But he was fine, over all.

Matt seemed to take a moment to let the information sink in. Despite their harebrained scheme, everyone was alive. Adria was alive, though no one could account for her mental condition after Alex got a hold of her. Tary was alive, though probably terrified to go back outside alone. The Pokémon were all alive, including Cerberus who had been strung up from the ceiling and very possibly could have been sucked dry by the spider Pokémon that had put him up there. Despite all of their bruises, cuts, and other physical damage, they were miraculously okay.

"Did... did either of you catch sight of Alex or James?" Or had the two baddies made a complete escape?

Benn shook his head. "No. They fled before we arrived. But we've been on the hunt for James for a while, so he'll be caught eventually. We're working hard to track him down, infiltrating Rocket bases for him as well. But he doesn't ever seem to be in any and no one really knows where he is until it's too late." Benn didn't look very happy at the idea that they failed to catch the two. "You'll have to talk to Nathan or Sam for more information about that, or anything who isn't me; I don't infiltrate, I stitch people up and send them back out. As for Alex, she's not on our radar either."

Matt sighed, running a hand through his hair and scratching at his scalp. "It's so hard to pin Alex down... I'm guessing that James is the same way." Sure seemed like it, for how long he had been running around and how he acted. He'd disappeared out of that base quick after Matt got hurt. "The police never managed to catch her and they have all the information we gave them." By 'we', he must have meant his family in general. His father had provided much of the information because Tary and Matt had still been very young when Alex had turned on them.

"Speaking of stitching up, however," Matt changed the subject, not exactly eager to talk more about Alex. "What exactly happened?" He pointed to the bandage over his eye for context for his question. All he really remembered was a burning, unbearable pain there.

Benn smiled to him in regards to Alex and James. It was very much the same, but that was because James had been evading them for quite some time. In the beginning he was caught, but there was a bit of an accident in one of the labs that allowed him to escape when they were evacuating one of the off-site bases. That place was long abandoned after that accident because there was damage beyond repair. The terrain hadn't been all too well, either. Meanwhile, it was likely that Alex wouldn't have heard of the Resistance; no one did, really. Hopefully they could catch her.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd ask about that." It was a grim topic. "Well, I don't exactly know what happened. But I looked at that eye of yours. There are scratches in and around the eye, kind of like they were created by little barbs. And knowing James, it was probably from that Ariados of his, Ariana," he frowned. "However, Ariana wouldn't have done it on purpose, so it was only an accident. I know that the Umbreon and the Ariados under James aren't that sinister- Dyavol is the most innocent while Ariana merely listens to her trainer, but wouldn't have the heart to attack someone's face, let alone the eye. Basically, your eye was damaged and it's beyond any repair. I'm sorry to say but you won't be able to see out of that eye again."

Matt listened with quiet intensity to what the doctor had to say about his eye and what had happened to it. He remembered Ariana falling onto him from the ceiling because of the Earthquake; he remembered that she'd been flailing around and then here came that searing pain in his eye. Ariana's barbed leg must have scratched him in the eye when she was flailing around. The final verdict of the doctor made him frown. Never see out of that eye again? That wasn't exactly good news.

He raised a hand to touch the bandages that covered the damaged part of his face and imagined what it looked like underneath. Mangled, scratched, unpleasant; all words that would probably describe what happened to him. This... this was going to take some time to get used to. "Nothing?" He wanted to verify that it really was gone for good. He wanted to know if there really was nothing to fix it.

Been shook his head. "There's no way that I know of to fix the damage. Maybe in the future if technology evolves enough to fix your eye safely, you'll have a chance to see out of it, but at the moment, it's going to be nothing," he sighed. Benn didn't sound all too happy the fact that Matt wouldn't be able to see, either. It was horrible, being unable to see in one eye after growing up with both for so long. It would take some time getting used to the lack of sight.

A ragged sigh escaped the boy and he sat back against the head of the bed. Nothing for it, then; he'd lost an eye in the confrontation with James. Nothing could be done to fix it, so now Matt would be living without and getting used to just one eye. This was probably going to be rather a rather unpleasant learning curve. Okay, he needed to get his mind off this. He'd gain nothing by dwelling over it. "You said our Pokémon are healing somewhere?" Maybe it would be good if he could get his and Tary's Pokémon. Ender, if he was feeling well, could also help take his mind off this. Shida would like to curl up with Tary, and Waka probably would too.

Benn nodded. "Yes, down the hall. Shall I fetch yours for you?" he asked. Someone else came into the room, drawing Benn's attention for a moment.

"He says thanks, Benn." The voice itself sounded like it came from a kid, and a kid he was. The speaker was a young lad, no older than 13 years old with shaggy blond hair pulled out of his line of sight. His eyes were a bright green- peridot, would have been the proper shade for these his eyes. He was dressed in simple jeans and a grey flannel with a white tee-shirt peeking out from underneath.

"Wonderful!" Benn clapped his hands together. "Sam, this is Matt. Matt, that's Sam." The boy simply waved.

Matt didn't get the chance to answer Benn. If Benn was offering to go fetch his Pokémon, Matt would happily accept, but he'd like to get Tary's Pokémon, too. No doubt she'd feel better for it when she finally woke up. Speaking of, Matt had thought of another question to ask Benn when he got a chance. For now, his attention had been grabbed by the kid that had just entered the room.

When introduced, Matt waved back to the little boy, looking him over with his good eye. Why was there a kid around here? This was supposed to be a top-notch government organization designed to fight against evil organizations and there was a kid randomly wandering around? It was odd. This kid couldn't be much older than Tary.

Sam was there for good reason, and Benn would happily explain if Matt, or anyone, asked why he was there. But Benn said nothing about it at all and simply smiled a bit more, relaxed at the moment. "I take it you want your Pokémon? And maybe your sister's Pokémon? Is that right, Matt?" Benn guessed. "Sam can get them for you, won't you Sam?"

The blonde boy shrugged. "Sure. What are they?" The Pokémon were just down the hall. Sam didn't mind going to grab the Pokémon. It wasn't like he had anything better or more important to do.

The question caught Matt slightly off guard. Sure, he could spout off what his Pokémon were, but he had no idea what his sister had anymore. He knew she had a Growlithe, but beyond that... He didn't know if her Mareep had evolved, what starter Pokemon she'd picked up, or any other Pokémon she had gotten along the way. "Um..." It took him a moment's thought to gather himself and tell Sam what his Pokémon were: Haunter, Dragonite, Scizor, Furret, Metagross, and Politoed. As for Tary's Pokémon, he could only say that she still had a Growlithe and some Pokémon from the Mareep line of Pokémon. "I don't really know what Pokémon she's picked up in the last week or so."

Sam thought about it for a moment, memorizing the Pokémon he'd said and repeating it the list back. "Haunter, Dragonite, Scizor, Furret, Metagross and Politoed, and a Growlithe and something from the Mareep line?" he repeated.

Benn chuckled. "I had all of the Pokémon picked up from the base set off aside from the other Pokémon. Just ask for the newcomers, and they'll give you all that we found over there," Benn commented. He'd made sure that the ones picked up were separated from the other Pokémon since he didn't know who's was who's, really.

"Got it!" with a salute, the blonde boy was off in a skip.

Matt watched the little boy run off in search of the Pokémon that had been brought in. When the boy was gone, Matt looked to Benn for an explanation. "Who was that?" Of course, he knew the boy's name, but he didn't know why the boy was running around the base. It didn't seem like this would be an ideal place to have children around, being that this was some sort of super secret base that housed an organization called 'The Resistance'. Whatever the case was, at least the kid was well behaved; running around and doing errands around the base. He was an intelligent kid, but it really didn't seem like he belonged around here.

Benn smiled back down to Matt. "That's Sam. I used to babysit him a while back when he was younger. He's the boss's son. Being the head of our base, things were naturally dangerous. I babysat Sam when he was younger, but then his father decided to just give him some sort of training and he learned to defend himself. Good fighter, but he's still has a bit to learn." he explained. "The kid doesn't belong in the Resistance as an agent so he's our errand boy until he's old enough to become an agent. His father's scared someone'll be out to get his son, so he keeps him close and brings him when he goes anywhere. And since he's the boss, he's able to." Benn shrugged. "He's a good kid, either way. Friendly with the Pokémon, so it's not all running around doing errands for him."

Matt's mouth formed an 'o' as he finally understood just what was going on. The kid was the boss's son and the boss was no doubt a big target to anyone that knew about the Resistance. Therefore, the boss's son needed to be protected. Matt understood that. People with a grudge go after the weakest link and everyone would see the kid as the weakest link. The kid was trained, now, and kept close to the secret base. "Alright. I get it. Seems like a good kid, though."

Matt paused for a moment to think about what his question before had been. "How long have I been out?" It didn't seem like a terribly long time, but Matt didn't know because he had been unconscious and when you pass out like that, it seems like no time at all has passed. It could have been days since they had been in that dark base.

"Mm... A little less than a day," Benn hummed out, going back to scribbling on his clip board. "You all have, though you're actually the first of all three to wake up." he added. "I suspect Adria should come around soon enough, as well, and maybe even your sister. It's why I had her stuck in here; she knows you, so you'll be able to help calm her and let her know where you are and all that," he pointed to the small girl with his pen. "Any more you want to know, I'll be happy to answer," the blonde man smiled.

Matt scratched his head, looking back to his sister. It was a relief to see her again, though the damage that Alex had inflicted made his blood boil. To think that witch had his sister for who knows just how long! To think of what she had done! Regardless of what had happened, Tary was here and she was safe for now. "No more questions for now. I just hope they both wake up soon." It would be good to see Adria and Tary awake again. Matt was feeling a little guilty for dragging Adria into this mess, even if he had protested her coming along in the first place.

The smile on Benn's face never faded. "I understand. I too hope they wake up soon. Perhaps they will very soon." More footsteps and Sam had returned with a plastic tub with Pokéballs rolling around in it.

"These are them, I believe. I don't recognize these Pokémon, anyway," the boy approached with the bin with all the Pokéballs rolling around in it. It held all of Matt's Pokémon, all of Adria's Pokémon, and the ones Tary had on her person as well.

A smile spread across Matt's face. It would be nice to have his Pokémon back. He picked out the Pokéballs that he had marked, counting to make sure they were all there. Of course they were. Ender was the first Pokémon he released. The Haunter looked a little tired, but otherwise no worse for the wear. He spun to take in the room. "Oh good, we're safe." His eyes landed on Matt, then flicked over to Tary; the siblings were reunited.

"Ender, help me pick out Tary's Pokémon." Her Pokéballs hadn't been marked and Matt needed a little help to pick them out of the crowd. Ender would be better for that; he knew Psychic and could probably use it to figure out who was in what Pokéball without opening them all.

Ender looked down to the boy holding the bucket and then peeked into the bucket to see the 11 Pokéballs rolling about inside. It couldn't be too hard to pick out the five that Tary had.

There was only one special Pokéball in there that belonged to Adria, and that was a Safari Ball from Sinnoh, which housed Darteng. The other Pokéballs were relatively unmarked, save for all the scratches along the sides.

Benn turned to check on Tary while Sam was left holding the bin and watching the Haunter, which had spoken only moments ago. He didn't seem too entirely startled by it, but seem to be just a bit inwardly confused on something, though said nothing and remained silent as the two picked out the Pokéballs.

Tary was still sleeping, mostly peacefully. The Nightmare, along with whatever Alex had done to her physically, had probably drained her of energy. That was kind of what the move Nightmare did when used in a legitimate Pokémon battle: it drained away the victim's life in large increments. The Gengar hadn't wanted to kill her, though, and had toned down the Nightmare so that it was more or less just giving her terrible nightmares.

While Ender searched through the Pokéballs, Matt released Shida. Before Matt could actually say anything, Shida had taken off, crawling over anyone in her way to get to Tary and curl up next to her. Shida was the only Pokémon in the fight with James that had escaped unharmed, and it showed; she was more energetic than Ender was and seemed generally healthier overall.

Ender, meanwhile, had picked up the five Pokéballs that owned unfamiliar Pokémon, except Waka of course. He was familiar with Waka. The rest were Adria's, which Ender was mostly familiar with. While doing this, he felt eyes on him. Sam was watching him and Ender looked back at him, catching his eyes. "Something on your mind?"

The boy was silent for a moment and watched him, and then he finally answered. "Nothing I can't figure out..." he commented quietly. It was no lie, either because he couldn't lie. Or, rather, he wouldn't. His father had taught him to never lie in his life, but if someone didn't specify, it was okay to not say the exact truth. This was as true as he could get. It wasn't anything he couldn't figure out.

Another chuckle escaped from Benn. He'd known Sam since he was very young, so he could easily read what Sam's thoughts were, even without looking back to him. "Yes, Sam, you have the right idea." He abruptly answered Sam's unvoiced thoughts. He could understand the boy very easily. "He's just wondering if you really did talk, is all." Benn glanced back to Ender, filling him in on what Sam was wondering.

Ender furrowed his brow for a moment, taking in the information before it really clicked. "Oh... ohhhh, so you're that kind of person." Ender shot Sam a rather amused glance. "I see."

Ender understood something about Sam, then; that Sam could probably hear Pokémon and understand them even if they weren't speaking English. This was a different kind of confusion than the type of confusion that Ender usually got. Usually, people wondered if they were hearing correctly and tried to figure out if they were actually hearing a Pokémon talk. Sam was different, though; it was a different kind of confusion.

It didn't matter at this point, though Ender was going to have to test his theory sometime. Matt seemed confused; he'd probably missed part of the conversation.

Sam shuffled a bit under the Pokémon's words, but said nothing at all, choosing not to respond to what the Pokémon was suggesting. He was a bit timid around people he didn't know very much, let alone Pokémon he didn't know very much. He was a quiet boy, mostly, and didn't like to talk very much if he didn't have to, especially to people or Pokémon he didn't know very well.

Benn only found he was more amused than before, but said nothing for the moment. The boy was skittish and would likely run away the moment he was no longer needed to stick around. "Should I return these other Pokéballs to the Pokémon medical wing?" he asked quietly.

"I think you should return those to Adria across the hall, wouldn't you agree, Matt?" Benn asked, glancing between both Matt and Ender. "It's better to wake up and be surrounded by friendly faces, right?"

"I think so, Doc," Matt replied, smiling slightly over to Sam. "Go leave those for Adria across the hall; she'll want them when she wakes up," just like Matt had wanted his Pokémon when he woke up. They were both trainers and both cherished and loved their Pokémon. It would be best if Adria had her Pokémon when she woke up. It would probably make her feel more comfortable. Plus, it would give Sam an excuse to get out of here. It didn't take a genius to see that he wasn't exactly comfortable.

Ender smiled as well, examining the Pokéballs he had fished from the bucket. "Having good friends around you when you wake up is always a good thing." That's why he was currently trying to sort out which of Tary's Pokémon he was going to release. The decision was easy. Two Pokémon appeared on her bed; a Growlithe and a Flaafy. Both were fluffy and adorable, but the Flaafy looked terribly irritable.

The young blonde nodded his head. It was always better to wake up with faces that you knew around you, even he had to agree. It was always better. After all, if he was hospitalized, he'd want to wake up with his father at his side, or his best friend, or Benn. He liked Benn because Benn was nice and he was a very trustworthy man.

After seeing the Growlithe and the Flaafy being released, Sam took the plastic bin that was filled with the rolling Pokéballs and scampered across the hall. One could actually visualize a tail tucked between his legs if they wanted to. The boy was skittish at first until they got to know him.

Benn smiled a bit more. "He's not much of a stranger person, but he's a good and kind lad," Benn offered, turning back to Matt. "Now, are you hungry?"

Matt watched the boy run off. For a trained fighter and the son of the Resistance boss, he was pretty skittish. If Matt and Tary were going to hang around here for a while for their safety, however, maybe they would see him around more and he would get used to them.

Benn caught his attention. "Hungry?" he repeated. When he started to think about it, the answer became apparent. "Yes, actually." He'd been out for a little less than a day; the last time he had eaten was before he learned of his sister's whereabouts when he took over Nathan's kitchen. Some food would be lovely.

Tary's two Pokémon had settled beside their trainer while the humans were talking. Tary was now surrounded by three very fluffy creatures, each sharing and radiating warmth.

Benn was glad that he was feeling hungry. He'd be recovering fast, hopefully and eating something would be just the thing. They all would (physically) recover soon enough, and then they had a choice to do what they wanted from there. It would take some time, though, for all three to recover to the best they could.

* * *

After the earthquake caused by the Dugtrio, James had hid out in one of the abandoned rooms away from where light could find him and had waited for Alex to be done with her fun. They were done about the same time. After that, he led Alex to one of his hideouts nearby, which was an abandoned, run-down old shack. The shack was haunted – or so James always said to keep people away – and used that for his base of operations, so to speak. The shack had a single bed, which was clearly used, a couch with fluff spilling out the seams, along with one toilet, a single sink (both bathroom and kitchen use) and a tiny little shower. It wasn't anything special and James didn't care if it looked nice and furbished on the inside. In truth, he'd found it like that long ago. It was a place to stay the night, and he offered a roof over Alex's head if she had wanted to stick around. James, again, didn't care.

Alex didn't seem to care much either way, though she did thank him for the offer. It was nice of him to offer her a roof over her head for the night. At the moment, she was examining the fluff falling from the seams of the couch, pinching a little between her fingers and pulling it away to examine it closer. "So Matt was the one to fall into your little trap. Sorry you didn't get much of a chance with your girl. Did you have fun anyway?" Alex was rather interested in knowing what had transpired between the two boys. They could swap stories about what they had been up to.

The Gengar had returned to Alex's side after they had left and informed her of what had happened. The Gengar couldn't speak, but he could get his point across well enough. The boy had come and the boy had taken the girls away. Alex would have to inquire a little bit more about this boy; he was protective of Adria and it seemed like it might be fun to toy with another new target.

The man seemed to merely wave it off as if it didn't really matter. He was disappointed that he hadn't got his prey, but figured that he could get her in the future. He'd have to do a bit of hiding for now. "Not exactly what I had planned, but it was alright. We played a game, had a battle, upset the Dugtrio, had an earthquake and Ariana fell on him and injured him. I think in the eye," he shrugged, feeling rather indifferent about the whole thing, playing with Dyavol while talking. He had plopped down in the middle of the floor and was taunting him playfully with his hands, moving them around and poking at Dyavol's sides and paws playfully as Dyavol attempted to catch the hands with his teeth, his jaw snapping down whenever he thought he'd be able to get the hand that waved in front of him, goading him. His bites were sometimes painful, though, but that didn't stop James from playing with him like so. "I think it was fun just kind of getting him riled up in the beginning. Syler enjoyed kicking his Scizor's ass, though." At least Syler had a bit of fun. "You?"

Alex giggled as he mentioned injuring Matt. That was good; Alex liked to hear that people enjoyed her toys. "Adria was fun. I can see why you like her. I beat her, bruised her, and cut her up a little bit. Her screaming was music to my ears. I will admit, though, girls are never as fun as boys; Tary and Adria both as so physically weak that it was a cinch to make them scream. Boys are more fun; it's more fun to try and coax it out of them. Plus, they can take a lot more physical abuse before I have to stop." She turned to face James, watching him play with Dyavol on the floor. "Speaking of boys, who exactly were the two that came after our toys? That one with Matt looked like he was a doctor, but the boy that went after Adria... who was he?"

He didn't seem to care much of what her preference of toys were, though only thought about it for a moment. He knew Adria didn't enjoy sharp things to begin with, even before she came across Syler. Not many did. He dismissed the thought silently.

"I don't know if Benn's his name or not- I can't remember- but I believe that was Nathan's friend. Nathan is my younger look-alike. He's Adria's elder brother, currently her guardian, as she lives with him rather than her mother for the sake of traveling and convenience." James explained. "Benn's a co-worker of his. He's well into his early-30's while Nathan shall be 20 in a few months, if I'm correct..." his gaze shifted up toward the ceiling as he cocked his head to the side: an easy recognition of him trying to remember something; a bit of a habit of his. Shifting his gaze back to the woman, he asked, "Why?"

"According to my Gengar, he was getting all protective over the girls. It sounds just too adorable to me. I think I saw him run past in the hallway while I secluded myself in one of the rooms." Alex grinned very girlishly; it almost sounded like she was a teenager talking about a crush. "And he's part of Adria's family. If I could get a hold of him, would you like to play with him?" Alex was more than happy to share her targets; it was fun to see people get hurt even if she wasn't the one doing it. It was, of course, more fun to actually participate, but she didn't mind too much either way. "He seems like a tough one. I bet he could withstand a really good beating. I'd just love to get my hands on him for a little while." Nathan was older, he was stronger, and he was a male; these were some of Alex's favorite things in toys. It took a little more effort to make them scream; more effort to make them beg. It was a thrill, though sometimes such a challenge made her a bit frustrated and liable to do more, sometimes irreparable, damage.

James almost snorted at her offer. "No thanks. Like I said, I'm not the type of guy to do things hands-on and Syler wouldn't be very tolerant of Nathan. Syler isn't as patient as I am, and even I'm running a bit low on it myself when it comes to that boy. He's strong-willed indeed, if he's anything like his father." His lips curled up into a mischievous smirk. "And I'll assure you; his father was very tough to deal with and was strong. If his son is anything like what I had to deal with, even on a small scale, you'll be quite satisfied." James promised, pulling an apple out of a nearby wooden bowl. He broke the bitter red skin of it with his teeth and bit off a large chunk, then offered it to Dyavol.

Alex giggled, clapping her hands together once. "Oh, I'm so glad I met you! You're just a wealth of information and connections. And you're quite fun to be around if I may say so." She grinned, so very pleased by the information that James had provided. "I'll catch him all by myself this time." This time, she wouldn't ask James to help her catch her target. Nathan wouldn't be expecting her. All she needed was, "Do you, perchance, know a place or time I might be able to get close? Or, at least, let my Pokémon get close and distract him long enough to take him out? I don't know exactly where I'll take him, but I think I'll try to keep him longer than we did Matt and Adria. If he's so stubborn, it might take a little be longer to get what I want from him."

James shook his head in response. "That I do not know. You see, Nathan and his friend Benn work for a rather large organization that specializes in the taking-down of groups like Team Rocket. Nathan's a rookie while Benn's their best doctor. It's unlikely that they'll send Nathan out and it's unlikely he will come out unless it's something personal, or he returns home. Benn, on the other hand, only comes out of the base when he needs to help someone, but other than that he doesn't come out." James fell into a quiet thinking process for a moment. How could they draw the boy out?

He was unlikely to come out if his sister was there. So long as his girlfriend was with him, he wouldn't travel back home to go and get her. "I think maybe setting off the alarms at his house would do. It will draw his attention, and it might draw him out to turn it off if he sees the alarm was triggered accidentally."

"Brilliant idea!" Alex commended him for the bright idea. Setting off the alarm would pull Nathan out of the base. He was bound to be on guard after everything that had happened, but Alex was fairly confident that she could trick him long enough to grab him. "I'll do that tomorrow, after I find a good place to take him." Honestly, Alex wasn't picky about locations. It wouldn't bother her if she just did it all outside; she could pay with him outside and leave him there if she wanted to take a rest at a more comfortable, close-by location. She really didn't care as long as she could play with a new toy.

The man chuckled in response. He might be there when Alex had her fun. He could be there to watch and maybe mock him a bit if he felt like it, but otherwise would allow Alex to take charge and do whatever she wanted to him. "You know, the more I stare at you, the more I start to see some similarities between you and the boy," James began. "I don't know what it is... maybe your nose, or the placement of your cheek bones..." he thought for a moment, tilting his head again and looking down, past the Umbreon munching on the apple, completely content with just sitting there with his apple. Dyavol liked apples. "Perhaps both, and more, or less…" he mumbled to himself, still thinking. He couldn't help but notice.

Alex giggled, placing her hands on her cheeks as James examined her. "So nice of you to notice! It should be at least somewhat noticeable; I am his mother, after all. But speaking of similarities, Nathan is the spitting image of you. Somehow, I don't think that's just a coincidence." While she spoke, she flopped down on the floor beside him and Dyavol. "What's your connection to him? And Adria, for that matter?"

Psy, who had been lying on Alex's shoulders the whole time, looked down to examine the Umbreon that seemed so friendly and playful; perhaps annoyingly so. That innocent attitude, however, couldn't make her that irritated. It almost made her want to join him.

James laughed. No wonder their features were so alike; mother and daughter and son. It almost made him wonder why she'd turn against her own skin and blood. But then again, why did he? "I was actually surprised the first time I laid eyes on the boy, to be honest. No, it's not at all a coincidence, but it's not exactly your case either. I have a brother, you see. We're actually identical twins, and that was the best part about it! We could pull bat-shit crazy stunts as the other and blame them. I had no idea my brother had a wife, let alone a son and a daughter.

"Nathan's the spitting image of his father and therefore the spitting image of myself. It seems the only similarities I hold with the girl is our forehead and nose-shape, but definitely not size. If I'm correct, that must be from the mother, whom I've never met nor do I know where she is by the way. But the hair: that odd teal-shaded hair I know came from my side of the family. My great grandmother had the same hair, I remember," he grinned. "And there you have my family history."

He ran his fingers over the Umbreon's sleek body and settling his short black fur back. Dyavol seemed to purr at the small sign of affection and nuzzled his master's arm, glancing up and catching Psy's eye. Dyavol couldn't help be innocent and playful, even if it was to a point of being really annoying. The Pokémon loved to play and only got violent when his sleeping spot was taken. That was why James loved him so much, too. Dyavol was innocent, and even if James himself wasn't the good guy, he felt his Pokémon shouldn't be the bad guy with him all the time, either. He preferred Pokémon that were obedient, but otherwise were good. Syler just sort of tagged along for the good times.

Alex giggled, amused at his family history. "Lovely story, there. So you're their uncle. How fascinating." She didn't bother to ask why he had turned on his family. What did it really matter? All that really mattered was that they were working together now and could probably be classified as friends, even if they had only known each other for a couple of days. "It must be quite a coincidence that your nephew came out looking identical to his father. Really, I think it's very amusing. Oh, just talking about him makes me so excited! He's a fresh target, and fresh targets are fun. I can't help but think it might be a little weird, though, playing with someone that looks so identical to you," she pointed out, slightly amused with that train of thought. Nathan was younger, though, so there was that difference.

Psy slid off her trainer's shoulders and landed smoothly on the ground. This Umbreon had caught her attention and she was a little curious about him. It was odd to find such an innocent Pokémon with such a mean human. She had no idea how that had happened, but it had happened and now Dyavol was traveling around with James.

James only shrugged to himself, though he didn't particularly care if that was how she thought. If she saw Nathan as a younger version of James, he didn't care. The boy was young, and the boy wasn't him, and that was that. "But it's not," he reminded her simply, glancing down to Dyavol and Psy.

Dyavol watched her warily. She wasn't very friendly and liked to sleep a lot, and was lazy from what he gathered. He held her attention, and she held his. But why? Had he done something wrong, or did she maybe want an apple, too? Come to think of it, had she and her master eaten something at all since they'd met? There were more apples in the bowl behind him if she wanted an apple, since apples were very tasty and juicy and sweet. The skin was bitter and he didn't particularly like the bitter part, often having James carve it for him, but otherwise loved them very much.

"Of course it's not! It'll just be odd, is all." Alex shrugged, an amused smile still spread over her face. James was so amusing, so entertaining. Alex was very glad that they had met and were now hanging out as friends would. Maybe they could continue to be friends for a while; Alex rather enjoyed the company. It got a little lonely out on the road while trying to avoid the attention of the media or the cops. The toys helped, for sure, but it wasn't the same as good old fashioned conversation.

They hadn't really eaten since they'd met, though; Alex had been too jittery and just generally excited. Even though some time had passed since Nathan and Benn had retrieved the toys, Alex had been a little wound up. Now was the first time they were really relaxing. Psy wasn't all that hungry, though; at the very least, she was keeping her mind off of it. There would come a time in the near future when Alex would need to get food for her and her Pokémon, but now was not the time. Instead, she just sat and watched him curiously, sizing him up. He was a very interesting Pokémon in the company of this very interesting man, was all.

James only smiled, watching his Pokémon watch the other Eeveelution, his ears strained back in caution, almost scared to know what she was thinking. James chuckled a bit. "I think they're bonding," he joked, watching the pair curiously.

Dyavol cocked is head to the side, lowering it a bit to analyze Psy at another angle, curious about her. He was an odd Pokémon to be the cruel man's company, but James was good to him, and kind to him, and loved him, and was a wonderful master to him. He played with him and let him cuddle with him at night. James was good to him even if he wasn't good to the girl and other people, and he liked that about James. James liked how innocent the creature was despite being present to this hideous nature of his. It was some sort relaxing thing to him for him.

Alex laughed slightly; bonding... right. It sure looked like they were bonding. The sarcasm in his comment had not gone over her head. They were certainly curious about each other, though.

Psy had not seen very many other Eeveelutions. They weren't the most common Pokémon around and it was kind of nice to see another one, even if he was a little irritating with his bouncy, playful, _innocent_ personality. Maybe she would warm up to that, but whatever the case was, there was one thing she knew for certain: she would like to get to know this curious creature a little more. Where she had previously been sitting, Psy was now standing and moving closer to Dyavol to get a better sense of him. Right now, she didn't seem rude or cold or lazy; she was just curious.

Dyavol watched her, crawling away and toward the bow of apples. He turned and propped himself up on the low table, swiping a apple out of the bowl with his paw and watching it roll across the floor and towards the other Eeveelution. He'd seen several Eevee and fellow evolutions across their travels, but he'd not seen an Espeon until now nor any other Umbreon, and Vaporeon. He'd seen one Jolteon, one Flareon, and a Glaceon and Leafeon owned by the same trainer off in the distance, though he'd never met those ones before. "It's kinda cute," James mused softly.

Psy watched the treat roll towards her, stopping it with her Psychic. She used the same powers to pick the treat up and examine it a little. When satisfied that the item she had been given was good enough, she ripped it into pieces; Psychic was good for something like that. Now that the apple was in jagged pieces, she didn't have to worry about eating the hard, nasty skin. She offered a contented purr to Dyavol to thank him and then began to nibble on the apple. It was good; sweet and juicy and perfect for a snack.

"I think it's adorable," Alex concurred, sitting back and watching the two Eeveelution interact.

The Pokémon cocked his head to the side in interest as she'd used her Psychic abilities to rip the apple apart like that. How interesting. He couldn't do that, though. He didn't know Psychic. He knew Substitute, Moonlight, Dark Pulse and Assurance. None of those moves could rip open an apple like that. He felt envious, and it was clear in his eyes as he watched her nibble while munching on the rest of his apple. The only way he could cut his was to have his master do it for him.

James chuckled a bit more, smiling as he did so. "Think they'll get to know each other more? Psy seems to be quieter; more to herself. Dyavol's nothing like that. He loves attention and playing around. Opposites tend to attract, though. Think they'll make the cut and be friends?" he asked.

"Maybe," Alex answered, watching her Pokémon nibble on the apple she'd broken apart. The Psychic Pokémon had noticed the envy in Dyavol's eyes and was amused. Poor Pokémon could split open his apples to avoid eating the skin. Maybe she could help him with that; only with permission, though. Psy wouldn't dare steal food from someone else. It was bound to end badly, as she wasn't sure if Dyavol got defensive over his food. A lot of Pokémon did. The quiet Pokémon sidled up to Dyavol and motioned to his apple. Did he want her to break his apple up too? If she did break it up, it meant that he wouldn't have to eat the skins and he could skip straight to the delicious insides.

Watching the two interact was adorable. "They seem to be getting along alright, right now. Maybe, if they spend a little more time together, they'll get along even better."

Dyavol looked between the lilac-colored cat and his red apple, already gnawed at. Only a portion of the red skin was gone and there was a large bite taken out of the side from his master, James, before he'd passed the apple over to Dyavol to finish off. It would be nice if Psy broke his apple apart. It would allow him to get to the juicy inside easier rather than gnawing on the flesh of the apple and eating the bitter skin to get to the sweetest part. He pawed his apple over to her, telling her she could do it.

"Dyavol's known for eating apples quite often. He's a maniac for apples and has me buy bundles of apples every two days or so. I'm surprised he hasn't grown sick of them, honestly," James shrugged. "It's either risking myself by running into a local store, or climbing up a tall tree where the better apples are for him. He doesn't like ones that hang low. I don't know why, since the ones we buy can be ones that hang low on the tree." He was going to be the death of James, he swore.

Psy took the apple in her Psychic grasp and split it into several jagged pieces for him. She set it back on the ground for him to continue eating and gnawing at before returning to her own split apple. The insides were sweet and juicy and Psy was enjoying the treat. Apples were familiar to her and her master and they tasted good, to boot. It was a nice little treat.

"Apple trees, eh? I used to live in a house just outside of Pallet Town that was practically surrounded by old apple trees. I'll have to show you sometime; there's a lot of good apples ripe for the picking at the right time of year." Alex seemed amused that they had this connection with apples. Dyavol loved apples, making James buy them and steal them from the boughs of trees, and Alex had used to live around a whole bunch of apple trees.

James grinned. "Wonderful! You'll have to bring me there. Dyavol would love you for eternity, I'm sure." He couldn't help but give a slight giggle, running a hand over the Pokémon's sleek black fur once again, greatly amused with his little Dyavol and his crazy adoration for apples. It was almost an addition, which was far better than James's own addiction.

Dyavol grinned in the goofiest fashion he had and happily went to munching on the apple, purring his happiness and thanks to Psy. Perhaps she wasn't all bad. She was cold and ignored him quite a lot, but maybe they could be friends. Dyavol was crazy enough to be friends with James, after all, so he could probably pull of trying to be friends with Psy. It would take time, though.

Alex smiled. James was such a wonderful person to make friends with; she hadn't felt this happy and relaxed in years. It was nice to finally have a friend.


	10. Branded

**A/N**

**Wow, this took a really long time. Koilate and I have been writing this whole time, but I've gotten behind in editing and posting this stuff. I need to try getting back on a semi regular schedule for this stuff.**

**Anyway, major WARNING for this chapter. Blood, violence, torture, and the whole shebang. So be warned.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 10:** Branded

The morning following James and Alex's almost heart to heart about apples, Alex was off on her merry way to see if she could lure Nathan out of his hiding place. It wasn't like the kid was actively hiding from her, but Alex was taking it as a personal challenge anyway. Having stayed at James's little shanty for the night and waking feeling rather refreshed in the morning, the woman was excited to have a little more fun. James wouldn't join – he had said that he didn't like to do anything hands-on, which was quite different from what Alex liked – but maybe Syler would have a crack at the boy. That Scizor seemed to like to cause things pain.

Finding her way back to Nathan's house, Alex just had to figure out how she wanted to trip the alarm. Well, that wasn't that hard. She flipped her hood back up to mostly avoid the cameras and walked straight up to the nearest window. For this special occasion, she had picked up something of hers that she hadn't had when she was playing with Adria and Tary: it was a long, thin, metal rod with a circle at the end of it. She used this item to swing at the window to shatter it into pieces.

The glass went all over, but most of it inside, shards clattering onto the carpeted floor and submerging themselves in the confines of the couch cushions, waiting for something to dig their hand between for the remote. The alarm shrieked the moment the glass shattered, all camera's looking for the source of the property destruction. This was sure to grab Nathan's attention as his smart phone was linked to his security.

The boy's phone went off the moment the alarm went off. The cops would be on their way if they weren't already, but Nathan had to be there to shut off the alarm if it was simply a baseball through the window. Again.

Although reluctant to leave his sister's side, he did so with promise of return and disappeared to do what he needed to do, falling straight into Alex's trap. He'd be there sooner than the police would be, that was for sure.

Alex used the time to her advantage. She hopped through the window with ease, her shoes protecting her feet from the glass littered about the couch and carpet. She explored the house, picking through things and seeing if there was anything interesting that she could use when she got her new play toy. A few things were broken and another window, this time upstairs, was shattered by the thing metal rod in her hands. This was a nice house; she rather liked the interior. It was especially nice when the interior was littered by glass. No blood, though. It was too bad she couldn't really stick around and have her fun in the house. Alex would have to drag Nathan into the trees instead and find a more suitable place, away from the cops, where she could have her fun. Too bad, but it didn't bother her enough to ruin her good mood.

Outside, Nathan had appeared with the help of his Alakazam's teleporting abilities, and analyzed the damage to his window. Someone was breaking in? He wouldn't stand for that! He could hear more destruction upstairs, too, which pissed him off even more. Not even bothering to go and use the front door, Nathan hopped through the window and into his living room, making sure not to land on the couch and accidentally fall into the glass shards that littered the floor. He'd have to do something about the couch; he'd wanted to replace it for a newer and nicer one for a while now.

He heard movement upstairs in Adria's room. The intruder was upstairs now! Stepping carefully along the carpet flooring, being careful to not make too much noise, the young man proceeded up the stairs slowly, cautiously.

Alex was aware that Nathan was in the house; her Gengar told her so. The Pokémon was prepared to catch Nathan from behind. For now, however, Alex just waited. She was standing against the wall, out of sight of anyone outside the room. She was actually leaning against the wall quite close to the door, just waiting patiently. Her Ninetales was out and about, sniffing through the room curiously; nosing through Adria's things, knocking things over by accident, and making more of a mess. She was the very picture of a wild Pokémon that had wandered in. Alex doubted that Nathan would fall for such a simple ploy, but it was simply meant to distract him temporarily. Her Gengar was the Pokémon he was going to need to look out for.

Nathan crept up the stairs and peered into the room where the source of the noise was coming from; ready for almost anything that would jump out. But when he saw the Ninetales with her nose curiously violating almost everything – things like the wood carving of an Ursaring holding two Magikarp in its claws, the box of Pokémon treats and other things falling from their perch – Nathan seem to freeze. Was it really just a wild Pokémon that had broken into their house?

But that wasn't right. Their habitats were grassy plains and fields, preferably by volcanoes, or in the mountain areas, not in a forest-infested area at the doorstep of a house just a bit out of the way of the city confines next to a lake. This wasn't a wild Pokémon. It couldn't have been. It may have looked the part, but it was very unlikely.

The Pokémon treats seemed to have especially gotten the Pokémon's attention. She could smell the treats and was curious about how she could get at what was inside. Only a solitary sideways glance was spared when Nathan came into view; she could smell him too and he wasn't very interesting to her. It did alert Alex, however, that Nathan was at the door. Perfect.

While Nathan was briefly puzzling over the Pokémon in his house, his shadow _moved._ Really, it was only Alex's Gengar peeking out from his hiding place. He'd stolen himself away in Nathan's shadow to try avoiding detection until the time he was supposed to move. Noticing Nathan's preoccupation, the Gengar leaped onto Nathan's back and crashed his head against the boy's. It wasn't a particular move or anything, but he wanted his claws on Nathan and he wanted to distract him for a moment longer. In seconds he was latched onto Nathan's front instead of his back and his big red eyes were staring straight into Nathan's as he used Hypnosis.

The young man was startled by the sudden crash of heads, giving a slight yelp of pain and was bringing his arm up to rub the back of his head when the ghost Pokémon captured his gaze. He was immobilized in the red stare, completely absorbed in his gaze and Hypnosis. Falling victim to the Pokémon move, he crumpled towards the ground, suddenly feeling drowsy and falling right asleep. He'd returned Alakae to his Pokéball the moment he'd arrived, which was a bad move on his part. If Alakae was there, Nathan probably would have been able to avoid this trap with Al's psychic abilities and power. Alakae was Nathan's first Pokémon, and strongest; he trusted the Pokémon with his life, but had stupidly recalled his Pokémon after arrival.

Bad idea.

The Gengar giggled in complete and utter happiness. It had worked! He loved it when his Hypnosis worked. Alex stepped into the doorway to observe the boy that had walked straight into her hands. "Isn't that cute? I think it would look cuter if he had a few nightmares, what do you say," she smiled and looked to her Gengar, indulging him.

The Gengar loved to put people to sleep. Nightmares were fun, too, but it was just as fun to just put people to sleep. Alex seemed to want Nathan to have a few nightmares, though, so he was more than happy to oblige. Those clawed hands took their place on Nathan's head and stirred up a nightmare in his head that would last him until he woke up from natural causes.

"Alright, good job," the insane woman patted the Gengar on the head and then called the Ninetales to her. "Let's get him out of here before the cops show up." Following through her words with her actions, she stripped Nathan of his Pokéballs and hefted him onto the Ninetales's back. From there, she led her Pokémon down the stairs and out the nearest door, escaping into the trees behind Nathan's house.

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Darkness. That was all Nathan could see. His body felt heavy, yet weightless at the same time. Was he floating, or was he sinking? He couldn't move his arms or his legs, trapped and bound by invisible... ropes? Chains? His head was set straight. He felt like he was floating on a wave, but at the same time on a giant ride tilting back and forth, left and right, yet at the same time felt absolutely still.

Then, he suddenly felt a chill up his spine. His legs were free, and there was a sudden light that was far away, then in his face, blinding him. He ran from whatever was chasing him despite nothing being there at all. He felt heavy again; slow, and knew it was absolutely impossible to make it to the end of the wherever he was running and whatever he was running in.

To his left he heard something cry out. It was familiar, and sounded almost light static mixed together with a groan, or a grumble. Turning his head, his eyes widened in horror as his best friend and first Pokémon Alakae fell to his knees, something sharp and shining brightly against the light protruding through his back. Blood spilled out of the wound, and the image haunted Nathan. He cried out, and his only response was the voice of his Pokémon, Alakae, wailing in pain. Suffering. He could hear the blade grinding against his bones, and he could hear the nasty sound of organs being punctures and the squelching sound. He cried out again, only this time feeling pain as he realized he was in the body of the Pokémon. The blade was being rotated by an unseen force in his chest. It was agonizing, and constant, but he never felt himself go numb and die.

The Pokémon's thoughts melded together in Nathan's; he could feel the pain and hear the thoughts of his Pokémon. It crushed him, taking over his mind. The blackness spun around, and his head was splitting from the cries and screeching. It hurt a lot.

He flailed in place, but felt no movement. He cried out, screamed out, willing his arms to slap something. He flailed in place for what felt like hours, years, and eternity. His body loosened, and tingled before he finally began to feel something- cool grass? A soft breeze? Nathan's eyes shot open, body still heavy from the dream, but it took a long moment for him to realize he was laying in a patch of grass near a small body of water.

It was a little pond, in the middle of the trees. Unsurprising, really. There was a small creek trickling near-by, feeding into and out of the pond and winding its way through the trees. It was a scenic, beautiful setting; even Alex, standing at the edge of the pond and skipping rocks, couldn't ruin the picture. It was almost like she fit in, there at the edge of the pond. Maybe she did. Maybe she did belong on the wild. The Gengar was tugging at her sleeve and she turned to look at what he was pointing at. Her hood had been lowered once more to expose her face, and she offered a smile to Nathan. It was soft and, in that moment, she didn't look crazy at all.

"Oh, you're awake! How good of you to join us in the land of the living." The picture was ruined when she spoke. Even though her tone was normal – no mocking, no laughing, no insane happiness – the sound of her voice broke the peace that had settled over the pond.

Nathan had been bound as he slept. Alex had _borrowed_ an escape rope from Tary and, although she hadn't used it on the girl, she was planning to use it on Nathan. The rope had been cut to pieces to fit her need. Nathan's hands were bound behind his back and his arms were bound to his sides. His legs had been left free; Alex wasn't all that worried about him running off. Her Ninetales and Psy were wandering around on the outskirts of their clearing to make sure he wouldn't be going anywhere.

The young man threw his gaze around, startled by the sudden appearance of the voice of the woman. He wriggled and tried to get himself free of his bonds, but it was to no avail. He realized that they were too tight. His Pokémon were gone, too, and he was out in the middle of the forest next to a small body of water connected by a creek on either sides. He'd not known that these were here, actually, until now.

He glared up at his captor, taking in her face while he could, ignoring the creepy voice of hers. "Who are you?!" Nathan demanded. "And what do you want? Where are we?" Classic lines in situations like these, more often never answered with something the captive deemed good and liked.

Alex trotted over to him, plopping down into a cross-legged sitting position just in front of him. She leaned down so they could talk more face to face. "Oh, well, I thought you could have guessed a lot of that. I hope you don't mind if I answer your questions a little out of order," she grinned contentedly. "My name is Alex and I brought you here. This is a little pond and creek a little ways from your house. I'm afraid I don't know exactly; I couldn't tell you just how far away we are. As for what I want, I just wanted to have a little fun. James was telling me all about you and I just thought you were absolutely adorable," she pinched his cheek as she said this, practically fawning over him. "Plus, you're a boy, and boys are always more fun to play with. They're more durable and it takes me longer to get what I want. Oh, I better answer that question before you ask; I want you to scream." Her eyes darkened and her grin grew into something terrifying. There was an insane glint in her eyes as she grabbed Nathan by the hair and dragged his head back to expose his throat. "Will you be good and scream for me?"

He didn't like either of her answers; he didn't like that he was captured by Alex, the one that was new to their radar; he didn't like that he was away from his house, didn't like her objective of taking him here nor did he like that she wanted him to scream. What he didn't like most was that she found boys to be more durable to her little 'fun'. This was the woman who played with his sister, then, and it only made him angrier. Flames of defiance ignited in his eyes as he stared up at the woman. His mouth went dry. "No," he responded calmly, refusing to do as his captor asked. He wouldn't scream, and it was his mission not to, now. And Nathan didn't like failing.

"Good," Alex grinned, releasing his hair patting him on the head. "It's far more fun to have to work for it. I'll warn you now, though, I've got an ace up my sleeve." She flicked her hand lazily, looking at her fingers. "I know how to make you scream if I want to, but I want to have a little fun first. If you make me too frustrated, though, I might hurt you more than I intend to. I don't really want to kill you. You see, it's no fun to actually kill toys; it means that I never have a chance to play with them again. Dead bodies don't scream. I'm not above killing though. If you prove not to be a very fun toy, I might just leave your corpse out in the road for someone to find." She cast a glance at him from the corner of her eye, sizing him up. "But you're already proving to be quite entertaining, so I'm not too worried about it."

Nathan gritted his teeth. Someone would come looking for him. He'd gone to investigate the break-in at his house. If he didn't return or call back, someone would come looking for him, and that was a guarantee. With all the possible threats out there, there was no way he wouldn't be looked for. He'd get out of this; he just had to hold himself strong and resist against this mad woman.

He said nothing to her, refusing to respond. There was no need to respond to her; that was the purpose of him being there. She wanted to see him respond, and she wanted to hear him in pain from the attacks and little fun she had in store for him. He silenced himself, only glaring daggers.

"So you want to play it that way? Fine, just try to hold your tongue. It's a battle of the wills here, isn't it?" Alex laughed, clapping her hands and taking to her feet. "This'll be good fun. I do hope you don't disappoint."

Bringing her fingers to her mouth, Alex emitted a loud whistle. This sound brought her Tentacruel into the scene. Relo had been in the water, apparently, watching and waiting for her. He didn't seem to be all that interested in whatever was going on, but Alex was his master and he was dedicated to his master. He loved her greatly and Alex loved him in return, always offering affection and praise. Relo would listen to no one else as long as Alex was kind to him, even if that meant doing things he didn't like. The insane woman had run to him the instant he emerged from the water and had clambered nimbly up to the top of his bell. "Relo~" She chimed, laying down on his bell and making as if she was trying to hug him; he was too big to hug like that, but he appreciated the action anyway. "Grab the boy for me, would you?"

The Tentacruel moved out of the water and towards the helplessly bound boy in the grass. One of his many tentacles reached out and wrapped around Nathan's ankle, using it to lift him completely off the ground and bring him up to eye level. Those big shadowed eyes examined Nathan rather curiously, offering some small amount of pity without words. Relo did not envy the boy that had been caught by Alex, but would not defy Alex to help him.

The boy was left hanging upside down, upsetting the flow of blood for him. He watched and identified the pity in the Pokémon's eyes and would have felt a bit touched by it if this Pokémon wasn't helping her. But he could see this Pokémon was loyal to this woman. He guessed that because of that, this Pokémon wasn't all bad and was probably a really good Pokémon if in the right hands.

But he wasn't.

Nathan averted his eyes back up to Alex, glaring at her, but refusing to say anything. He didn't know what she would do to him; dump him in the water and keep him there? Keep him upside-down and make gravity push all his blood to his head? This woman was a mystery to him, as she should be since she'd only met him... well, only a minute ago when she'd introduced herself.

Alex was watching him, wondering what he was thinking of everything that was going on. She hadn't done much of anything to him yet, and she honestly didn't have much of a range of torture methods. There were the few that she liked and certainly there were one or two methods that were more experimental and she was interested to try, but she usually kept it relatively simple. For now, they would start with the water; Alex loved water. Maybe that was because her favorite Pokémon was a water type, but maybe not. She just really liked the water.

"Start by holding him under the water, Relo. I want to see how long he can hold his breath." That was somewhat of a warning to Nathan that he was going to need to hold his breath very soon. It was a round-about warning, but a warning nonetheless. Alex remained atop her Tentacruel's bell as Relo carried Nathan over to the little pond. Once there, he moved into the deeper water closer to the center of the small body of water and thrust the young man in his tentacle down into the depths. He continued to hold Nathan by the ankle to keep him under and to be ready when he needed to be brought up for air.

Nathan wasn't all to surprised by the decision and took a deep breath, inhaling through the nose at first, then taking another breath just before being plunged into the water, and he held his breath. He was able to hold his breath for about two and a half to three minutes, depending on if he'd inhaled enough. It wasn't all too impressive since Nathan didn't do diving, but his training under the Resistance also consisted of how long he was able to hold his breath under the water. Some of his colleagues were able to hold theirs for about three and a half. Others could do maybe two minutes tops. Nathan was in the average. Despite having this time, he knew that when missions involved water, and lots of it, there was an aqualung for each member when they needed it.

Adria often liked to use it, though.

Alex watched quietly from atop Relo, counting silently to herself. So far, no thrashing or panic so Nathan was doing quite well. Alex expected nothing less from her new toy. It was fun to watch him try to be strong, though. She did hope that some of her nastier techniques would get him to scream. Bruises and cuts wouldn't cut it, this time; this time, she needed to be a little more drastic. That was completely okay, though: drastic was fun, oftentimes.

Relo swirled the boy about in the water, drifting him from side to side slowly, almost lazily. He was watching the young man, waiting for him to make a genuine sign that he could no longer breathe; Alex didn't want him dead, she just wanted to panic him a little. The body would automatically panic when it didn't get enough air, and that was what Alex was looking for. When he appeared to be at his limit, then they would lift him out of the water.

Thirty seconds passed, then a minute, then a minute at a half. Nathan kept himself calm despite the light thrashing Relo made, swirling him in the water to disorient him a bit. A few moments longer passed by before he started to run low on oxygen. Scrunching up his face and trying to hold on; his time was running out. His head throbbed, then his heart, and lungs. They were going to explode soon without the oxygen! They were heavy against his ribs. It was getting difficult to think with his brain going into a high-demand mode.

A few bubbles surfaced; he'd let go of what he was holding and began to wriggle in his binds. Air! He needed air!

Alex and Relo both noted the change in behavior and the time that had passed. It was time to bring Nathan back up out of the water. Relo lifted the boy easily, pulling him from the water and dangling him clear above the surface where he could catch his breath and get some air. Alex watched from atop Relo. "Not bad, kid! Not extremely impressive, but certainly not bad." It was rather fun to cause him such discomfort. Alex planned to continue this routine for a while: drag him under and then bring him up for air. The longer the pattern continued, the harder it would become for Nathan to continue holding his breath underwater. He would become fatigued, tired, and in desperate need of a break to catch his breath.

Upon being lifted out of the water, the young man went into a fit of coughs and gasps for air. He didn't know how long he'd be able to keep this up if she continued to shove him under the water again and again like that, testing his durability, his lungs. The first breath was always the best, and then it went downhill from there. Continuing this pattern would put his lungs under a great amount of strain. He'd be able to go under less and less unless he was aloud some time to rest.

His heart thumped heavily in his chest as he took in the precious air once again, regaining what he'd lost under the water. He said nothing to the woman, though, keeping his rebellious silence. He refused to cave.

His silence was practically goading her on. She was excited to push him to his limits and see just how far he could go. This was an excellent durability test and she planned to continue this until he was worn down enough to be susceptible to the other activities she had planned. "Again." Her voice chimed and Relo obliged, quietly dipping the boy back under the water at the order he was given. Relo would not disobey, but he would not allow Nathan to die; he was carefully watching the human boy in his tentacles to make sure he didn't actually drown. This was merely an exercise, not meant to kill him or fatally wound him in any way. This pattern would continue four or five times until Alex was satisfied.

Nathan took that as his cue to take another deep breath and hold it. Lowered into the water, he remained quiet and unmoving, not wanting to even expend any energy at all. This time his limit was shorter than the first. The first time he'd been able to hold his breath for a few minutes, but this time it was reduced down to two minutes maxed. He figured that about the third or fourth time he'd be too exhausted to try this again. It was only the second time. One or two more times, then he'd be at his very limit.

The young man began to think while he was in the water – his best ideas always came when he was bathing, doing the dishes, or swimming in the back for some reason – about how he was going to get out of this mess. He was bound pretty tightly. The escape rope was tight against him. He didn't have a blade hidden on his person nor did he, or anyone else he knew, have shoes that concealed blades in the toe like he'd seen in action movies when he was a kid. He wasn't some kind of super hero that could break the ropes, either.

Abruptly, bubbles escaped him again and he begun to wriggle in the water, the familiar thumps of pain against his chest resonating in his ears once again.

Relo lifted him from the water once more, allowing him a moment to cough out any water and catch his breath a little. This was wearing him down, slowly but surely. It was expending his energy. Anything Alex planned to do later would probably affect him worse once his body was exhausted.

This time, when Nathan surfaced, Alex wasn't on top of her Tentacruel anymore. Now, she was sitting on the bank playing with a long length of rope; probably another stolen Escape Rope. She looked up when Nathan surfaced, amused with his attempts of silent defiance. Things were going quite well so far. "Once or twice more, please!"

Relo silently obliged after giving Nathan a moment to recover. The process was repeated twice more, each time allowing Nathan to reach his limit and then pulling him out. The final time, Relo dragged the boy above water and tossed him onto the shore. Alex waited only feet away, ready for the next phase of their fun.

Each time Nathan's endurance wasn't as long as the last. It was understandable, and Alex had even panned it like so. He wasn't at all happy and glared between his coughing and gasping for air as he was finally thrown onto the shore. This woman was trying his patience, though there was nothing he could have possibly done about it when it finally hit the brink. He still refused to say anything, though. He was exhausted, but he refused to say anything to the mad woman. There was nothing to say, anyway.

Whatever was next, Nathan obviously wasn't looking forward to it. Although he was curious to know what he was in for, he'd probably regret it the moment she told him what her next move was.

Relo relaxed back into the water, content to stay out of whatever else Alex had planned. She could do as she pleased and Relo wouldn't make a move to stop here. Alex's other Pokémon had also stopped to sit and watch what was going on. All were apparently interested in what was going on between Alex and Nathan.

"Still tight lipped, are you? All the better; we're just getting started." The woman closed in on the helpless young man, retrieving her blade from her pocket; time for a little more of her standard treatment. Just as she had beaten and cut Tary and Adria, she beat and cut up the young man before her. Bruises we beautiful, dark marks left behind from her fun. The red of blood, even when diluted by the water still covering Nathan's body, was a beautiful contrast to the dark marks of bruises. Of course, she was just as careful this time as she was when playing with the girls. No need to be terminating Nathan too soon; that wouldn't leave time for any fun later.

If there was one thing about having a little sister, it was being used to being beaten and bruised. He and his sister had gotten into plenty of wrestling-matches and bet each other chores and other things. He was bigger than she, so he was always going easy. He never escaped without a few bruises here and there. He was relatively use to the bruises, holding his tongue and refusing to cry out. He bit back his voice as she went on with beating and cutting him.

It didn't _not_ hurt, though. It was painful, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of a scream or a shout ripping past his lips. He silently let her litter his body with her 'beautiful' creations, uttering nothing and biting back every noise of discomfort and pain. She wasn't going to win that easily!

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy; the beating was merely a formality. Alex couldn't very well let him go without a few bruises (read as: a lot of bruises). When she had finished with her short fun, she forced him to lie on his stomach so she could sit on his lower back. For a moment, she just sat there and admired her work. "You've been doing very well holding yourself together, kid. But, if I may say, I think that I'm going to change that."

It was time to move onto something new. She wanted to hurt him; she wanted to make him scream and she would go as far as she needed to in order to get what she wanted. "Let's test the waters, shall we?" She reached out and took his hand; more specifically, she took the pinky finger of his left hand. With the thin digit in her grasp, she twisted sharply to break it. She wanted to see how he would react to something so simple.

The young man gave a sharp gasp as his finger was sharply jerked and then hissed in pain. That, no doubt, had hurt him. The pain was scrunched up on his face, as well. It hurt quite a lot, and it would take a while for his finger to heal back. With Benn, though, it would heal correctly. He was a good doctor.

Nathan as he finally began to show his discomfort, hissing and using a deep-breathing exercise to get the pain to feel less powerful. It wasn't particularly working. At least, not as much as he really wanted. But he didn't scream, either, like Alex wanted.

"Oh good! I think I surprised you that time. No screaming, I'm impressed, but I got a reaction this time!" It was good to see that he was at least registering the pain and that her fun was actually doing something to him. Of course, she wasn't going to just stop there. She repeated the process with the rest of his fingers on his left hand, including his thumb. Then, just for shits and giggles, she broke the middle finger of his right hand. After finishing her little finger-breaking spree, she sat back to admire her fabulous work; those twisted fingers and broken bones were a beautiful sight to behold.

By the time Alex was done, admiring the hard work she'd put into breaking all his fingers on one hand, Nathan was trembling, not daring to move either of his hands. He'd let out hisses and grunts, biting back his voice as much as possible. He did just about everything, except scream. He didn't want to scream for her. It was her mission to make him scream, and it was his mission to do no such thing.

This crazy woman was insane. Never in his life had he met someone who liked to do this, nor had he even heard about someone so messed up. James was more for a game of Cat and Mouse. Syler liked to just inflict pain and bash people's bones and making them bleed. But Alex was a different kind of sadist. Syler didn't care for making his prey squeal; he just wanted them to bleed, and that wasn't a battle of willpower. That was just a bloody battle.

Alex liked to see that she had this effect on him. She was finally getting somewhere in this game! Nathan had been winning, before; now, he was beginning to give a little ground. Alex was determined to win this game they were playing. Now, it was time to move on to her next act. Breaking his fingers was just the first part of her fun; she had something else wonderful in store for him.

Her knife was in her hand once again and her free hand grasped the broken pinky of his left hand, hurting him further by putting pressure on the broken bone. If just breaking his fingers had gotten such a reaction, maybe this next activity would get her what she wanted. Without saying a word to Nathan about what she was doing, she placed the tip of her knife under his nail and began to push it in. The grip she had on his pinky would allow her to hold it still will she poked, prodded, cut, and eventually ripped his fingernail right off.

The moment he saw the blade he knew what was to come and he knew that it was going to be very painful. Often times when Nathan was sewing a hole in his shirt or pants, he'd poked himself with the needle, thankfully each instant it was with a needle not tiny and sharp, and hissed out in pain, almost throwing the needle away. Throwing a needle was the last thing he needed

The tip touched the delicate skin under his nail and tried to rip his hand away, but was only met with pain. He twisted his neck and glared hateful daggers at Alex. He wouldn't scream, though. He refused to scream for her, though his willpower would only carry him so far. His hatred was like a fuel, burning his fire more and more, willing him to hold his voice a little longer.

Alex took great pleasure in levering and ripping the nail from the nail-bed. Given the chance, the nail would grow back; the human body was durable like that. It was great fun to watch him try to hold his voice while glaring daggers, though. He wouldn't be able to pull through forever. Alex just needed to cause a little more pain. Time to take another nail off!

The bloody knife drew back from Nathan's pinky finger and dug into the skin beneath his ring finger, holding tightly to the broken digit to keep him from pulling away and ruining her work. This was great fun; slowly destroying his hands was great sport and Alex rather wondered why she hadn't taken this up sooner. Any normal man probably would have been screaming in her hands by now, but Nathan was holding even stronger than she had expected; this only drove her to try harder and hurt him more.

Nathan wasn't exactly normal, but he also wasn't invincible and could take the pain as much as he really did want to. He could feel himself eventually cracking. Just like Adria, Nathan was not a fan of sharp things if they weren't in a kitchen; he preferred using a gun, instead. Sharp things only made chills go down his spine if they weren't in a kitchen, or in their proper place.

He hissed and squirmed under the treatment, but otherwise didn't scream out like he both did and didn't want to. He could feel it touching his throat, but held it back out of sheer will. Tears pricked the sides of his eyes as he fought it off, but it was becoming a bit much. Fuck, he hadn't realized how mad this woman was and what she would go through just to hear him scream!

The second nail came off as easily as the first did. Nathan hadn't screamed yet, so Alex would keep going. She moved out of order, this time, and latched onto his broken thumb. The knife descended once more, pressing underneath his nail and levering it up and off the nail bed with painful slowness. Eventually he would crack under the pressure. He was so close to screaming already! The sooner he screamed, the sooner Alex would stop. If he didn't scream, she might just take off all ten fingernails. If he screamed, she would probably only take off another one or two instead of all of them. There was that unspoken incentive; Alex hadn't exactly mentioned that, so Nathan had no way of knowing what she would do.

Nathan held his tongue, but as the blade dug deeper and deeper into his skin, his whimpers and squirms grew into a light thrashing, and his voice grew louder until the scream he'd dreaded so much ripped through him like a jet plane speeding over head; the sound was quiet as it passed by, and then there was a sudden _boom_ as the sound finally caught up.

He'd tried as much as he could to suppress the scream, but it just got more and more painful as the moments ticked by. Voicing his pain helped, in some way, to relieve the pain. It was strange, but it somehow helped, and after suppressing the screams for so long, he was at his very limit.

Alex gleefully tore the third nail from his thumb and giggled like a madwoman. "Finally! I thought I'd never hear from you. You're quite the tough cookie, kid. I admire that about you. Not a whole lot of people could have taken that much of a beating without screaming, like you did." Alex grasped the pointer finger of his right hand while she spoke, digging her knife under his nail for the fourth time. "Just one more nail and I think I'm just about finished. I just have the piece de resistance."

While she spoke, the knife was digging under Nathan's nail and levering it from its bed. When she had finished with that, she wiped her dirtied blade onto the grass by Nathan's face. There was one more thing she needed it for, though. With a few deft slices, Alex had torn open Nathan's shirt and cut a long strip of fabric from the torn material. After that, she sheathed her blade and stored it safely away in her pocket.

Nathan's mind was hazy, barely listening to her; hazed in the pain that was brought upon him with the knife, staring down at the hideous, bloody work she'd put into his no-longer existent nails and broken fingers. His entire hand trembled, and he could only stare in horror at them, tears falling from his eyes. He'd reached his limit, and it wasn't over yet. What would come next, he wondered? More knives? Would she break his toes, rip out his toe nails? But when she sliced his shirt open and stashed her knife away, his theories disappeared. What was she going to do next?

The strip of cloth that she had cut from his shirt would make a serviceable blindfold; Alex wanted this next part to be a surprise. As much as she liked the look of horror on his face and the tears that fell from his eyes, this would be much better if it was a surprise. As such, she wrapped the cloth tightly around his eyes and tied it in the back with a double knot. "I've got a little surprise for you, Nathan~" she chimed, hopping off of his back and leaving him there to stew in his darkened world.

It took her a good few minutes to get back to him, pressing her foot lightly onto his neck to keep him still. "Ready for your surprise?" Nathan wouldn't see, but in one hand was a phone and in the other was the metal rod from earlier. This time, however, the rod was white hot at the tip, courtesy of her Ninetales. The white-hot tip was brought down on Nathan's shoulder-blade, pressing the insignia into his skin and permanently burning it into his flesh.

It took Nathan a moment to identify something was on his back. For a fraction of a second, the scorching metal felt cold against his skin. Then the pain came like a wildfire. Another, more shrill and far more pained scream tore through his entire body; he thrashed against the earth and her foot, listening to the sizzle of his skin burning away under the heat of the rod. Above all, this wasn't something he expected to come from this woman. It caught him by surprise. The young man screamed in nothing put pain and horror, crying a river of pain past his blindfold. A flock of Pidgey and Spearow squawked and flapped off in a flurry, spooked by this much louder scream.

The pain was intense; too intense for Nathan to comprehend. His mind was all sorts of black and white. The smells, the sounds – they all started to blend together to a point that nothing was registering in him anymore, other than the searing pain of the branding tool.

Alex laughed, her happiness mixing with his terror and pain in the air. The laughter and the screaming sounded strange, almost demonic, when put together like they were. The branding iron stayed planted against his back despite his thrashing and Alex only pulled away when the metal had cooled slightly against his skin and she was satisfied that the result would be favorable. The branding iron was pulled away from the abused skin and Alex knelt down to examine her work. The rod was placed aside, though the phone was still sitting in her left hand, and she traced the capital 'A' surrounded by a circle that the design had created. The flesh was red and raw, obviously tender to the touch, and she took great pleasure in feeling the mark with her fingers. "Perfect. Don't you think it's just perfect, Nathan?"

The cool air bit and nipped at his exposed skin and the new burn on his shoulder blade. His pain was unbelievable. His mind was fogged over in nothing but pain and it wore him out. He was tired – exhausted, actually. His entire body quaked in his bonds and he was reduced down to sobs and not-so-loud painful cries. He refused to verbally answer her question. No, it wasn't perfect. It was horrid. It was loathsome, to put it simply, and even then that itself wasn't enough to describe Nathan's feelings, let alone thoughts. His mind screamed at him that he was in pain and he needed to get away, and escape. But there was no escape for him.

Alex giggled once more at the sound of his sobs. It was amusing to her to see the once-strong boy reduced to sobs and cries. She'd gotten him to scream, though. More than that, she had managed to get him to scream multiple times. This counted as a success in her books. "Looks like it burns a little, though. Maybe you ought to take a dip." She disappeared from his back and suddenly there was a tentacle wrapping around his ankle again. The next thing Nathan knew, he had been dropped without support into the little pond. The cool water might feel quite good on the brand on his shoulder, but this was otherwise a rather bad situation.

On the banks, Alex was preparing her final gift to Nathan. After this, she would leave him alone. At least, she would leave him alone today, in the woods, by himself. The phone she had borrowed from him now contained a video recording of his lovely reaction to the brand and she planned to send it to everyone in his contacts. There was bound to be someone that would come looking for him and she was going to leave the phone with him so that someone might find him. She wasn't just going to leave him lying on the ground, though. No, that was far too easy for Nathan.

No doubt people were looking for him now. Nathan had several missed calls and text messages; majority of whom came from Benn. He'd not answered his phone, and it was worrisome. With new and old threats out there, it was clearly a bad sign if he wasn't picking up his phone. Benn sure as hell wouldn't be at all happy to find his friend in such a condition.

Nathan broke the relative calm surface of the pond with a nice splash, unable to take a breath this time. He was too tired, though. Alex had exhausted him with all he'd been through because of her, and he would have been too exhausted to even try to hold his breath. His mind was blanking, the screams dying from his head as his world began to turn dark.

Relo fished him out pretty quickly and laid him down on the bank. No need to have him dying on them. In seconds, Alex was leaning over him and slapping his cheeks lightly. "Nu-uh, you don't get to go to sleep just yet. There's still one more thing you've got to do before you keel over."

Alex enlisted Relo's help to lift Nathan up to his feet. "If you go and fall asleep on me, I might just be forced to cut something off, so you better stay awake." By 'something', Alex was probably referring to any of the many extremities that were extremely easy to remove with a knife. She would not shy away from taking a finger or a toe off if he didn't comply with what she wanted.

The man wobbled on his feet. This person was persistent. She wasn't done with him? Even after the branding – which strung even more now that it was away from the touch of cool water, searing his back and making him flinch – she still wasn't done with him? What did she have in mind this time, besides slicing something off if he didn't comply with her wishes and not fall asleep like his body was practically forcing him to do? Make him to tricks? Break his foot, rip out a tooth; almost anything that horrified Nathan came to mind. She'd gone far enough and branded him, so she couldn't possibly do anything all that much worse.

Alex had nothing so drastic in mind. She just wanted to keep Nathan on his toes until help arrived. Although breaking things was rather fun and Alex was not opposed to breaking Nathan's bones, she was mostly finished with him today. It didn't seem like he would be able to take much more, after all. Even though he was a boy, he was still a human and humans had their limits. He lasted longer than Adria and Tary would have, though. That thought was enough to make Alex practically giddy with happiness.

She had Relo drag him over to the base of one of the large trees in the area; there were many of these and so Alex just picked one with a few low hanging branches. At the base of the tree, Alex had placed a large, gnarled piece of wood. It looked to have been part of an old, fallen tree trunk. It was only a foot or two high, but that was all that Alex needed. Not that Nathan could see any of this with the blindfold Alex had neglected to take off.

Relo lifted the boy clear of the ground and set him on his feet on the gnarled piece of wood. It was wide enough to be sturdy, but not so wide that he had a whole lot of room to stand. In mere moments, Alex had joined him and looped something around his neck. The escape rope she had been playing with earlier had transformed into a noose, which was tightened about Nathan's neck. The trailing end was slung over a low-hanging branch and pulled taught so that Nathan would be forced to remain standing lest he strangle himself. The rope was secured somewhere on the ground and Alex dusted her hands off as she admired her work.

The last thing she needed to do was send the mass text. It took her some experimentation with Nathan's phone before she figured out how to send a mass message to his contacts list, but she sent the short video and then set the phone down at her feet. "Well, I think I'll be going now kid. I do think I'll see you again, someday, yeah?" She sounded almost hopeful that they would meet again in the future.

Before she left, she dropped his stolen Pokémon down by his phone. No need to be keeping those, though it would be rather entertaining if she kept them. No, Nathan could have them back for now, along with his phone, whenever someone showed up to cut him down and take him to safety.

Nathan's energy was completely depleted. He was nodding off, even when on the log, until he felt the tug of the rope against his throat. It woke him up, but only just. Nathan was tired and probably wouldn't last all too long. But when the message was sent – Nathan could hear the little noises his phone made when selecting things and even the familiar chime of a message just sent – he was sure that he wouldn't be there for long. Using the signal, the last place the message was sent, they'd find him in no time. And if Benn was among the search party, he'd be there in a split-second. He had his Hypno, and his other Psychic Pokémon that were able to teleport, like his little Kirlia.

He never understood why his friend was into Psychic Pokémon so much; he just was, it seemed, having a neither rhyme nor reason. It was interesting, actually. Nathan's Pokémon consisted of a large variety. Adria's Pokémon mostly consisted of 2-stage Pokémon, though that wasn't exactly her choice, but she had various types with her. Adria...

What was she doing now, he wondered?


	11. Calm in the Cafeteria

**A/N**

**Back again with a calmer chapter this time. **

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 11:** Calm in the Cafeteria

Back in the Resistance, Adria had invited Matt and Tary to join her to get something to eat. Her room wasn't shared with them, so this was the first time they really had contact with one another since being separated in that abandoned base. She didn't seem to mind it, though. The time alone just gave her time to sit and mull over her thoughts and grab hold of reality. Any and all attempts to talk with her were turned down before this. She hadn't been ready for what Alex had told her, and it was taking a day with her brother to heal enough. Although she was likely to have nightmares in the future, she seemed just fine now, at the table with a plate of her favorite Onigiri triangle balls with steamed vegetables or meat hidden inside.

They weren't as good as Mom's, though.

Matt and Tary had joined her for food. Seeing that they were kind of stuck in the Resistance for now, they had nothing else to do and no one else to talk to. If it was safe to stay here, so they wouldn't be caught by Alex, they were fine with that. It was just strange to be surrounded by strange people in a strange building; Matt wasn't even sure where the building was in the region. It didn't really matter, in the long run. Right now, he was just happy to be reunited with his sister.

Tary hadn't spoken a word to anyone other than Matt; the strange atmosphere was making her nervous and she didn't much like to be surrounded by so many strangers. The Growlithe that Matt had released hadn't left her side for a minute and was constantly running around her ankles and carefully watching any strangers that happened to get too close.

Ender had taken to exploring a little bit and getting to know his surroundings more. The people here were nice enough; Benn was good company and Ender rather enjoyed observing the little boy in an attempt to prove his prior theory. Ender seemed more outgoing and talkative than either Matt or Tary, and was pretty good at getting along with people.

Now, he was with Matt, Tary, and Adria, curiously examining what they were eating. The rather familiar food was nice. Matt and Tary seemed to be enjoying it, though Tary was just as quiet and withdrawn as ever. The bruises were still prominent on her exposed skin, just as the bandage over Matt's eye was glaringly obvious. Despite this, Matt seemed to be more relaxed and friendly now that his mission had been accomplished.

Adria was relatively silent at the table as well, but this time it wasn't because of what had happened. She merely observed the odd atmosphere and wondered how she could get Tary to maybe open up a tiny bit, or at least say hello. This building was strange indeed and filled with so many different people. The organization was in Viridian, going under the alias of a Lava Lamp distribution company and, to keep that up, they really did have to distribute lava lamps.

Adria never understood why it was lava lamps, though apparently it was all the founders could think of. Otherwise, it would have looked mighty shady to find people running in and out of an abandoned building. The base was underneath the building, stretching to outside the town perimeter for a back entrance, where few people went. The facility was large, and it was unclear on how it got there.

But that didn't matter at the moment. "The chefs here make good food. Not as good as my Mom's, though," Adria began. Then she thought back to when Matt took over her kitchen at Nathan's house. "Oh, but your cooking was also amazing, Matt!" she added, grinning widely. Adria loved food. "Where did you learn to cook like that?"

Matt offered his attention when Adria began to speak. He smiled slightly as she brought up the topic of the small meal he had cooked before they had run off in search of his sister. "Self-taught. After Alex left, it was just me, Tary, and my dad. Dad can't cook worth a damn, so we learned how to cook for ourselves," implying that Tary, despite only being 11, could also cook a decent meal. It was necessary to be able to do so when living under the same roof as their father.

"Dad made a turkey come to life..." Tary's voice was soft, and tiny, as she contributed her small part to the conversation.

Matt smiled slightly at the memory, though it was just a little bit bitter. "Yeah, I wasn't exaggerating when I said my dad can't cook. It gets ugly when we leave him in the kitchen. An exploding microwave is nothing compared to the damage he can do." Matt still remembered the mess that had been made in the microwave in Nathan's house; Adria obviously wasn't adept at cooking. Matt and Tary, on the other hand, had learned to be good because otherwise they would be eating store-bought, pre-prepared, or take-out food. Although nice every once in a while, a good home-cooked meal was always the best.

Adria's smile widened and she laughed uncontrollably at the idea of a turkey coming to life. She hadn't had a good laugh like that in a while. The idea of bringing a turkey to life because of the insane lack of cooking skills was something incredible in itself. Tears pricked her eyes as she found it difficult to breathe; she really shouldn't laugh at these things, it was bad for her lungs.

"O-oh that's beautiful!" she chugged down some water to get herself to calm down a bit. She hadn't laughed like that in a long time. "I'll bet that was a horrible experience." Although funny to look back on, she hoped.

Matt was amused by just how amusing she found the story to be. It hadn't been quite as funny when it had actually happened, but it was rather amusing to look back on now. "I think it chased Dad out of the kitchen and then took a flying leap out the nearest window."

Tary had cracked a small smile at the sight of Adria laughing so hard she was almost crying. Laughter and happiness tended to be infectious, so even the withdrawn little girl couldn't help but smile at the sight. It was nice to smile every once in a while; Tary just hadn't felt like smiling lately.

"We try not to let him cook anymore. It usually ends in bad things." Ender put forth his two cents into the conversation. He, too, could remember when their father had made a mess of the kitchen and brought the turkey to life one year.

Adria's laughter died down to a few chuckles lest she choke on her food. The last thing she wanted was to die by food. "Was it for that American Holiday, erm…?" What was it called again? Welcome Giving? Welcome Thanks? Thanks Welcome? Thanks Giving? "Thanksgiving, I think it's called?" she asked. It was strange to celebrate it, Adria thought, but each family had their traditions. Each family was different in their own way and came from different parts of the world. They could have different celebrations and traditions. Adria just thought it was strange.

Matt smiled. "Heard of it, but never celebrated it. It was for Christmas one year. Dad was trying to make it extra special and have a full holiday meal. Didn't turn out quite like he planned, though, what with the turkey escaping and the rest of the food growing some sort of blue mold. We decided to eat out that year." None of them had wanted to get food poisoning from whatever mysterious fungus had taken root on their food. That was alright; Christmas turned out to be good anyway, despite the small setback.

Adria beamed. "Christmas!" In Japan, Christmas wasn't as widely celebrated as it was in the US. Until her father came into the picture, her mother, Jun, had never celebrated Christmas because the holiday wasn't as big. But her father loved Christmas with a passion and, being that he didn't originate in Japan, celebrated it yearly. He brought it to the family, and Adria was brought up on the same traditions he taught her mother when they were younger.

Adria didn't know any other families who really celebrated Christmas. Most people who celebrated it just kind of threw on a hat and gave a present to someone while sitting around a 2-foot Christmas tree. They decorated by stringing some lights and decor, but it was never a grand celebration. "You guys celebrate it too? That's awesome!"

Matt chuckled slightly at the wide-eyed, excited response to the knowledge that they celebrated Christmas, as well. It was an exciting, lovely holiday. Neither of his parents were fully Japanese; they had mixed backgrounds and ancestry, so they picked up some odd traditions like Christmas and celebrated it more than people normally would in this country. "It's a fun family holiday. We love Christmas and spending the time just enjoying each other's company."

"Presents are fun too. Plus the cookies!" Ender butted into the conversation again. Ender loved Christmas cookies. In fact, he loved cookies period. Ghosts didn't really have to eat, but that didn't mean he couldn't eat; he enjoyed sweet things and there were always cookies and sweets in the house around Christmas time.

Adria grinned, nodding eagerly in agreement with Ender. "Oh yes! The presents and the cookies I think are the best. Dad often ordered Ginger Bread House kits for us from out of the country. You don't find them really around here, so he feeds money to his dad and grandpa ships it over here – often he'll send the money plus whatever else right back to dad," she grinned. "I like making the gingerbread house. But it's difficult; Nathan and I eat all the candy before the house is built," she grinned wider. "The cookies are the best part, though! I'm a fan of sugar over gingerbread, but gingerbread is good too. Nathan likes gingerbread more." She looked over to Tary. "What about you?"

Tary seemed startled to be put on the spot by Adria, withdrawing into herself slightly as she sought an answer. Favorite cookie? Off the top of her head it was hard to think. Cookies were good, though, but what kind specifically? "Sugar."

Matt was slightly amused with his little sister; she had always been rather quiet and that hadn't changed in the time he had been away. Even in front of Adria, who was obviously friendly and somewhat-friends with Matt, Tary was withdrawn and shy. At least Adria had gotten an answer out of her. "Tary's really good at baking. She makes some awesome sugar cookies. My personal favorite, though, are the peanut butter cookies she makes."

Ender seconded Matt's comment, making Tary go a rather vibrant shade of red in embarrassment. "She makes really good cookies. I love the peanut butter ones, too!"

Adria beamed. "Really?!" She looked cookies. Cookies and chocolates and sweets in general were amazing. Adria loved chocolate the best. She was impartial for chocolate-_flavored_ things, but loved just straight chocolate. "I'll definitely have to try your cookies." She was no doubt going to be looking forward to it. "Cookies are great. I remember Nathan and I used to make cookies," she paused. "Well, _he_ made them while I watched," she continued, "and they were very delicious inside; the chocolate melted in our mouths and the cookie crumbled almost as soon as we touched them. I was 7 at the time. They had chocolate in them, but I don't remember what else was in them," she laughed a bit. "By the time we finished, we were sick of cookies. But it was fun making them, I remember."

Matt laughed a little as well, enjoying the short snippet of a story. Making cookies was fun. Matt had seen firsthand how poor Adria was when it came to cooking, when she had made the microwave explode, but he had also been warned by Benn not to eat anything that Adria cooked. It was no surprise that Nathan did most of the actual baking when it came to baking cookies.

"I think the last time we really sat down and made cookies together was last Christmas." Matt had been busy traveling and exploring, but had come home to celebrate Christmas with his family. It had been a wonderful little holiday and he had been able to spend more time with his little sister. "As for your special cookies, have you tried finding the recipe?" Either online or otherwise, if it existed it could probably be found.

Adria shook her head. "No. It wasn't so much a recipe as it was just adding more things into an already existing recipe to make it tastier. I do remember, however, that we'd put a lot of colored sprinkles on top." She grinned even wider, taking another bite into her onigiri.

Something brown and beige and very fluffy hopped up on the table from the floor nearby Tary and sniffed at her food curiously. Adria giggled. The Buneary liked food, and she liked Tary, too, though she liked just about anyone who had food. Hopping down from the table, she hopped up again by Matt, sniffing him and his food as well. She liked food, though she liked sweet things and honey the most. Adria named her Honey because when they first met, it was in a store and the Pokémon had shattered jars of honey onto the floor, then tried licking her fur clean of the sweet, sticky mess. Needless to say, the shop keeper wasn't happy. Several people chipped in to pay for the damage.

Waka, who had been lying peacefully by Tary's feet, looked up at the inquisitive Pokémon that had gotten close to his trainer and sized her up from his position. He didn't immediately smell danger, but he hadn't smelled anything wrong with James either and that had turned out to be a huge mistake. Now he was being extra careful with anyone that dared to come close to the little girl, including Adria and her tiny, fluffy Pokémon named Honey.

Matt was also watching the little brown Pokémon, though was way more relaxed about it than Waka was. It was just an adorable little Pokémon that he had met before and he patted her on the head as she sniffed at his food. "Colored sprinkles make everything taste better, I think," he mused aloud, smiling at the thought.

Tary was too busy watching the Buneary to participate in the conversation. It was an adorable Pokémon, honest to goodness, but Tary did wonder if the little thing was going to try to steal their food from the way she was running around sniffing at it all.

Honey was of no harm to anyone. She was too small and too cute to do anything other than steal food from people. She liked sweet things, and she seemed to be more interested in what Tary was eating, returning to her from Matt's side and sniffing her food even more. She turned large, cute and begging eyes upon Tary. She liked Tary, too, but at the moment she was more interested in the food that Tary was eating. She also seemed to like the red puppy underneath, but she was still more interested in the food that the girl was eating. "Indeed," Adria agreed, watching her Buneary closely. She was curious to see how Tary, the meek little girl, would react to such adoring eyes.

Tary seemed more uncomfortable than anything. Although the Pokémon was adorable, she wasn't familiar with it. She'd been taught not to play with unfamiliar Pokémon for safety reasons and the same generally went to sharing food with strange Pokémon. Of course, Tary was aware that Honey belonged to Adria, but she didn't make a move to do anything with the Pokémon and didn't seem to have the slightest clue of what to do. She looked to Matt for help.

Her brother, of course, came to her rescue and tugged gently on Honey's ear. "Leave her alone, you great fluff ball," his tone was calm, resigned, and faintly amused. Retracting his hand, he broke off a piece of his own food and held it out to the Pokémon to take so she might stop staring at Tary and making her nervous.

The small Buneary gave a squeal in protest from Matt's tugging and telling her to leave Tary alone until she saw the food he was offering her. She swiped it from Matt and nibbled on it to see if she liked it. Once she was satisfied, she hopped down and away from Tary and over to Matt's side once again, sitting down next to him.

Adria smiled a bit more. "She's a food scavenger," she commented softly, glancing over to Tary. "Sorry if she made you uncomfortable," Adria wanted to see her reaction, so she hadn't pulled her troublesome rabbit away from the young girl. Maybe after a little while she'd be more open enough to interact with Honey like Honey wanted.

Matt smiled slightly at the fluffy Pokémon that seemed perfectly happy now that he had given her food. He patted her on the head, tousling her fur slightly before returning to eating. Occasionally, he passed Honey a bite of his food. He didn't mind sharing with the relatively familiar Pokémon.

Tary shrugged slightly to Adria; casting her gaze around the room while nibbling lightly on the food they had been provided. It was good; Tary hadn't been able to sit down and cook a proper meal in a little while, so the food was appreciated. This was such a strange place, though, and it was making her uncomfortable. Too many people she didn't know; too much going on. At least Matt was there. Matt was picking up on her discomfort and searched about for a topic that might help draw her out, or at least get another small conversation going. "So... Nathan works here? At, uh... 'The Resistance', right?"

Adria's eye flicked over to Matt briefly then returned to her food. "Yeah," she answered. "As I said, this place is pretty secretive to the public. They focus more on Team Rocket and such, and some of the bigger criminals that seem to avoid the police the most. Some, though, they don't hear about until someone says something," by that, she was talking about Alex. "Nathan's only a rookie, though; he's still learning and is sent to get the smaller missions with a partner rather than going alone, like some other people do. But I hear the guy who runs this place prefers that people go out in pairs. Maddie also works here, though she's a techie and only part-time," she shrugged. "But I think the funniest part about this place is that it's run under the alias of a Lava Lamp Factory."

Matt smiled, pleased that he had gotten another conversation started that might be able to go somewhere rather than petering out and leaving them in a somewhat awkward silence. "A lava lamp factory, you say? They make decent lava lamps?" That would be both interesting and curious; apparently this was a super secret organization that conspired to defeat the evil organizations and other criminals and they were based on top of a lava lamp factory. Those things just didn't seem to go together.

Adria smiled. "Yeah. Above us is a Lava Lamp factory. They make lava lamps, though not nearly as many as other factories, and sell or distribute them. It's only to keep the cover, really. It would be strange to see so many people walking into a building that's absolutely abandoned if there was nothing inside. The founders used their own pocket money to purchase this place, I think after learning there was this massive base underneath," she explained. "I think they think this was a very old abandoned Rocket Base. The Government is funding this operation and has stationed other bases over the regions. This one is actually in Viridian," which meant that it was nearby where Matt and Tary lived.

"Really?" Matt seemed intrigued by the location of the base. "Hard to believe we've been living so close to a bustling underground government base without knowing a single thing, eh?" He glanced to Tary to see what she thought and she gave him a nod in response. She had been listening curiously to the information about the base. They were already inside and underground; neither of them had been conscious when they had been brought here, so they previously had no idea where they actually were. It was kind of weird to think that they were in some giant sprawling underground base at that very moment. "How are things going, anyway? Taking down the Rockets, I mean."

"It's going good, I believe," Though Adria wasn't a member of the organization she got information from Maddie and her brother Nathan. "Nathan says that there's an increased activity in kidnapping Pokémon. It doesn't seem like they're being used to be sold, either. He thinks that there's something more going on, and we'll only find out in the future." Adria took another bite, quiet for a moment while thinking about something. "James is being sought out for this, as well. One of Maddie's co-workers had gotten a hold of personal files from one of the bases. They analyzed it and found James's name in it; everyone else fled to other bases, or died before they could be caught. There's no doubt James knows about what's going on, either. And I think he's pretty high up in the Rocket Bases, too, so there's no way he doesn't know what's going on."

"So James is actually part of the Rockets?" Not exactly surprising, but Matt hadn't got that sort of vibe from the man. It really seemed like James had almost nothing to do with Team Rocket. He had teamed up with Alex to take down a couple of kids that weren't really involved in anything, after all, and that didn't really seem like something a Rocket would do. In any case, it was an interesting fact to know about the man. "Speaking of James... why, exactly was he after you?" Adria knew about Alex and how she was related to Matt and Tary, but Matt still didn't know very much about the man that had attacked him and practically destroyed one of his eyes. Despite that being an accident, it was still James's fault that it had happened.

Adria bit her lip, glancing away for a moment and looking around, almost nervously. She saw Sam interacting with a Weedle and feeding it some of his food in the other corner of the room. He looked quite happy to be with his Weedle. "It's understandable that you see him as not a Rocket, really," Adria began, reading Matt's thoughts. "He's not actively Rocketing. He's just kind of there to scare the rookies into doing what they're told, I guess. But everything he does isn't related to being a Rocket. I guess it just kind of keeps him off the roads and out of the open outside for a change every once in a while." As for his question about why he was attacking... Well, the answer seemed very complicated to Adria. If Matt saw James's face, then he had to see the similarity between Nathan and James. Nathan was, after all, the spitting image of his father, and his father had a twin brother.

Adria seemed a bit more hesitant to answer this question. She really didn't mean to fall on the topic of James, but they had thanks to her big, running mouth.

Matt noticed how nervous he had become and decided to backtrack when she stopped speaking; this topic wasn't important enough to talk about right now, so soon after their rescue from the abandoned base. "You know what, never mind. It's not important right now." He could find out later from someone that wasn't so intimately intertwined with James and his crazy antics. Besides Tary hadn't seemed exactly comfortable about talking about that man; he must have been the one that had caught her and brought her to that stupid base.

Ender, meanwhile, had wandered away from the conversation. They could handle themselves for a little while, but Ender wanted to go speak to the kid and figure out if his theory was right. It didn't seem like it was all that hard to figure out, though that may just be because Ender could speak two languages. He examined the Weedle, but couldn't immediately identify the gender. /What's your Weedle's name?/ This time, when he opened his mouth and spoke it wasn't Japanese that came out. It was a strange combination of sounds that his species of Pokémon made when they spoke to one another. It was a form of Pokéspeech.

Adria's gaze fell back onto the food she was nibbling at, feeling a bit bad she couldn't answer. "I'll..." she frowned. "I'll tell you later," she promised Matt, glancing to catch his gaze. "Just not now, though. But I'll tell you later." She herself didn't know why he was going after her. In all honesty, it could have been for another reason that he was doing it, or so she'd like to believe. But that wasn't the case. She didn't want to believe the answer she already had.

Sam didn't pay all too much attention to who was speaking, just letting his Weedle nibble on her food, amused with her. "I've named her Hornet because she'll be a Beedrill, and hornets are a species of bees. She'll sting if she doesn't like you," he answered automatically before realizing that the speaker wasn't a human.

Matt offered a smile to try to put her at ease. "It's alright. I won't make you share if you don't want to. If I'm desperate for information, which I'm not, I'd ask someone else. The Resistance has some knowledge of James, after all, so I could ask anyone else." Besides, it wasn't really important to him to know how Adria was connected to James. He had just been a little curious because the man had attacked him with his Pokémon and Matt had ended up losing his eye in the process. It wasn't important enough that he would make Adria uncomfortable and put her off to more conversation.

Ender smiled widely. "I knew it, I was right! How fascinating." It was probably not exactly a good thing that he had kind of tricked Sam into speaking, but Ender was just honestly, innocently curious. He moved to get a better look at the Weedle. "She's cute. Where'd you meet her?"

Adria gave him a small smile in reply. She didn't want to talk about it at the moment. In the future, if Matt knew, he'd likely understand her hesitance to explain it to him. After all, it was the same situation that he was in, or relatively similar. He was sure to understand the hesitance in her explanation. "Alright," she agreed quietly, nibbling on her food once again.

Sam was startled to see that it was Ender the moment he'd said something, and it didn't seem all too pleased to have been tricked like that. He fell quiet for the moment, feeding himself a spoonful of miso. "Viridian Forest," he answered, glancing over to Hornet as she nibbled on the soggy seaweed piece he'd given her. "I was five."

Matt was glad to have restored the peace to their conversation. Tary had been watching silently, not wanting to speak about the strange man that had caught her, either. She didn't like him; he was scary and had threatened her and hurt her with his Scizor. She still liked Scizor, though; Riley was one of her most favorite Pokémon ever.

Matt allowed the conversation to dwindle for the moment, not wanting it to return to the unpleasant topic of the two insane people that were after them.

Ender admired the tiny little Pokémon. Bug Pokémon were not the most popular with a lot of trainers, but the Weedle was adorable. "She's cute... Sam, I do hope you'll forgive me for that. I was merely curious about your abilities. I've not yet run across someone who could understand Pokémon."

Adria allowed the silence to settle a bit, glancing back over to where Ender had wandered to see the interaction between him and the boy, Sam. Sam was young and he loved Pokémon. He had one best friend who was human, but other than that he was a shy boy. Adria had to wonder what interest Ender held in him.

Sam nibbled his lips for a moment then nodded. "Yes..." he nodded. "I-it's okay I guess," the blond little boy shrugged. "I... guess an ability like this is a bit uncommon..." It was an understatement, but it was clear that Sam didn't mean it by that. He stroked his little crooning Weedle. It was clear she loved him a lot. And he adored her, too.

Ender smiled slightly. "Uncommon is an understatement kid. I've never met a person that could actually understand what we say and Matt and I have been all over the place." They'd seen a lot of people and had done a lot of things while they traveled yet they had never come across someone like Sam. "Would it be prying too far if I asked how?" It was clear that Ender was just genuinely curious about the ability and what it stemmed from. He had to wonder where something like that came from.

Sam was quiet for a moment, pondering on if he should answer or not. "Yes," he said. But he could sense that he wanted to know why. Everyone was curious about it, after all. "I think... dad says it's tied to the old legends of the Viridian Forest," he answered after another moment. "Like Yellow from long ago, and Lance, and Giovanni," he added. "I connect with the Pokémon, but the worst I can heal is a paper cut," he admitted. Lance was known to read thoughts, control Hyper Beams, and heal his Pokémon. Yellow was able to control a Pokéball and heal her Pokémon and read their thoughts.

Ender listened intently to Sam's explanation, nodding slightly indicate that he understood what the kid was talking about. He had vaguely heard of some of the stories of Viridian and the almost mystical Viridian Forest. "Fascinating, kid. I won't ask any more questions. I think it's an amazingly useful ability, though. A lot of Pokémon have a lot to say. Being able to speak the same language as someone else helps to make friends closer, too." He glanced down at Hornet again to emphasize his point. Sam would become closer to Pokémon than most people could ever dream because he had the uncommon ability of understanding them.

Sam couldn't hide the blush that was spreading across his cheeks at the praise. He was very close to the Pokémon. He was very close to his Weedle and other Pokémon, and also had made friends with the Diglett that Benn brought back when he brought Matt back as well. "Thank you..." he smiled up to Ender, looking a bit more open than he did three minutes ago. It was fascinating, he guessed. The power to understand Pokémon was an amazing ability that Sam had. He grew closer to his Pokémon because he could understand them. It was all for the better.

It was good to see the kid smile and blush; he didn't look as withdrawn and uncomfortable now. It was a much better look for the kid. Ender was pleased that he'd made Sam smile; he was also amused to have made him blush with the compliments. He had been serious, though, when he was talking about the amazing ability of being able to speak with Pokémon. "You're welcome."

If only more people had an ability like that the world would probably be a better place; people would get along with Pokémon even more than they did now and maybe there wouldn't be as much Pokémon-related crime in the world. Maybe. Maybe not, but it was an interesting thought nonetheless.

Sam took another moment to regain his composure, but kept the smile. "You should also be careful," he began. "A talking Pokémon who understands human language is truly wonderful. I imagine most would find it fascinating to have a common language between them and their team. But Team Rocket's been increasing their thieving ways. We... don't know what they're up to, but a talking Pokémon will only draw their attention. I'm not saying you should talk normally when they're around, but be careful. Odds are they might go after you because of your language abilities for some reason..."

The warning was appreciated and the fact that Sam had also just complimented him made Ender smile. Sometimes it was nice to be complimented on the ability; learning the human language was hard. "Thanks for the warning, kid. I think I'll be okay. I'm a ghost, after all, and it's hard to pin down a ghost. They can't catch me unless they've got my Pokéball, and sometimes Matt doesn't even know where he put it." Ender practically never retreated into the ball. He preferred to be out and about with his trainer where he could talk and experience the world.

Sam smiled a bit wider and nodded his understanding. "I understand that. The same thing goes for my dad's Pokémon, Bebe. She's a Beautifly and calls herself his 'First' because she was his first Pokémon as a child. She's always fluttering around here somewhere and never retreats into a Pokéball. I don't even know if she has a Pokéball anymore," he laughed at the thought, "and she perches on the heads of people she likes and kisses them with her nose. She likes to do that. Although it would be easier to catch her, she's fast."

Ender chuckled a little at the kid's explanation of the Beautifly that never retreated to her Pokéball. It was much better out in the real world, honestly. Things were prettier and more vibrant, though having a Pokéball was sometimes good for ease of travel. Sometimes a Pokéball was good for safety. There were good things about having a Pokéball, but Ender much preferred the outside world. "Sounds like bug Pokémon run in the family." He commented offhandedly. Bug Pokémon were not usually a major part of older, more experienced trainers' teams. They were generally weaker than most other Pokémon and didn't have a lot of strength or speed going for them, but it was nice to see that some people didn't care about things like that and made friends instead. "She sounds like a nice Pokémon, though." Friendly, certainly.

Sam liked bug Pokémon, but he had other reasons to like his little Weedle. And his father liked Bebe because she was his first Pokémon from when they were younger. Naturally, they'd be best friends and he'd keep her. He loved her very much just as she loved him very much. "She is very friendly and very nice. Maybe she'll fly in and meet your trainer or that girl," he gestured to Matt and Tary over at the other table. It was likely that Bebe would do something like that. She loved getting attention from anyone and everyone who was nice and not evil in any sort of way. She was an attention-hog.

Ender glanced back over to his trainer and the little girl that was sitting closer to him than she maybe normally would have. It was clear she was still feeling a little uncomfortable in this environment and Ender couldn't blame her for that. She was shy and withdrawn and didn't like to spend so much time around this many strangers. "I dunno. Matt would be more than happy, but I think she'd just make Tary nervous. Everything is making her nervous today." It worried him a little to see her so uneasy. Ender was close to the two humans – he had grown up with them, after all – so he didn't like to see either of them uncomfortable. It hurt to see them as injured as they were, too; Matt seemed to be doing fine overall, but Tary was more withdrawn than he would have liked.

Sam understood what he was talking about. He understood being withdrawn and being shy. He understood about being nervous in an unfamiliar environment around strangers. Long ago, Sam felt that same way, as well. Only a few years back he'd finally managed to get used to these odd surroundings and relax. But to wake up in such a strange place wasn't all that good for someone who was naturally shy. "I see..." he fed his little Weedle another piece of soggy seaweed from his Miso. "Perhaps I should warn Bebe before she goes by and visits."

"Perhaps that would be good. Though... if I may be so bold to suggest, maybe she'd feel better if someone her own age spoke with her." It was an obvious hint to Sam that maybe he should try to talk to the little girl. They were close to the same age and seeing someone else as young as her might put Tary a little more at ease. Maybe they could find things in common. "You've got a few things in common already, I think. You both love Pokémon, you both have a bug-type Pokémon with you – she's got a Butterfree – and you're both close to the same age," Ender ticked things off on his fingers as he listed off similarities. Ender had gotten a look at Tary's team and had noted what Pokémon she had on it. There was a little Butterfree there, a Pokémon she had probably picked up in the Viridian Forest as she passed through.

Sam tilted his head a bit to the idea of going and talking to her. Would it made her feel a bit better to talk to someone else relatively her age?

Sam mentally put himself in her position and thought about it before agreeing with his idea. "I... I guess I can do that," Sam agreed. He wouldn't like being in such an uncomfortable situation; he'd like to meet someone his age, too. It would be nice to meet someone his age or relatively his age. "Um... when, though?" he asked, fiddling with the ladle-spoon in his fingers. It wasn't like he had anything to do that day, so any time, really, was good for him. But he didn't know when it would be a good time for her.

"Whenever you're feeling comfortable about it. I'd suggest maybe later when they're not in a place with so many other people. She might be more willing to talk if there aren't so many people around. But thank you for at least considering. I don't like seeing her so uncomfortable." Really, Ender was almost like a second older brother to Tary; he was just as protective as Matt was over her and he hated to see her unhappy. She was looking rather unhappy at the moment. The Haunter took another glance over at the girl before looking back to Sam. He offered the kid a smile. "You could let whatever Pokémon you have meet whatever Pokémon she has. Maybe they can make friends."

Sam nodded quietly in agreement. Yeah, he could probably do that. Hornet would like to meet the Butterfree. Sam spent majority of his childhood when he was five and up in the forest, so there was a small chance that he may have known the Caterpie that was now Tary's Butterfree, or maybe as a Metapod, but he'd not seen very many free-roaming Butterfree. "Alright. I'll... I'll drop by a bit later," he agreed. He knew that he'd like to talk to someone his age when in a strange and unknown place. So it made sense to Sam what Ender said.

Ender smiled. "I'll probably see you then. Until then, though, I'm going to rejoin their conversation. Enjoy your lunch with Hornet." He waved his good-bye to the little boy and began to head back to where Matt and Adria were sitting with the little girl that had shortly been the subject of Sam's conversation with Ender. Things had at least relaxed between Adria and Matt; it was nice to see them getting along relatively well now that Matt wasn't so high strung about his sister being missing. Things seemed to have finally settled down.


	12. Nathan Returns and Tary Finds a Voice

**A/N**

**Chapters stay pretty calm. Don't worry, it'll heat up again soon. For now, enjoy some exposition and watch Tary finally get into a conversation with someone.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me or my friend and we take no credit for any of them. The only things that belong to us are the human characters, the personalities of the Pokemon that are central to the story, and the story lines.**

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**Chapter 12:** Nathan Returns and Tary Finds a Voice

The peace didn't seem to last too long, though. Moments ago Adria had reached for her phone to check the time and found a message from Nathan. It struck her odd almost immediately because for one, Nathan never texted her. He refused to send messages to his sister when he would much rather hear her voice. So many lies could go through messaging, and he really wanted to know if his sister was alright at any and all times.

A deep frown creased her features as she opened the message, which transformed into pure and utter horror. Her eyes were wide and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, blood running cold. Her heart thumped loudly in her ears as fear instilled inside her lungs, halting her breath for a moment. The volume was off, but she could still internally hear his screams of agony. Was this really...? This wasn't a joke, was it?

Matt easily picked up on the change that came over Adria when she saw the message; even a blind man could pick up on something so drastic. That look – the look of pure and utter horror, the look of shock and despair, and the look of near disbelief – broadcasted clear as day that something terrible had just happened. "...Adria?" He asked softly, trying to get her attention and figure out what was wrong. What had caused Adria to go so white so fast? A message on her phone, probably, but what kind of message could so deeply effect someone?

Adria forced her eyes from the disturbing image and up to Matt in response, unaware that she'd gone pale and started to shake. Should she say something to him and let him know, maybe further scaring Tary? Or was her reaction to the message already enough to scare Tary a bit without the explanation? But then again, did she even want to tell anyone what she'd just seen on her phone? She didn't even want to believe it herself, left alone verbally say and confirm the horrors she'd just seen. 'I-it's Nathan..." she whispered.

She looked back at the time the message was received, cursing inwardly when she saw she'd missed it 10 or so minutes ago. Where was this? Nathan looked like he was soaked, so somewhere near water, maybe? Near the house? But if it was the house, the cops would have been there too. It would be somewhere more private, wouldn't it?

Matt read into the whisper and the expression that she was wearing and pieced a few things together. Something bad had happened to Nathan, but what exactly had happened to him to get that kind of reaction out of her. It probably wasn't best to discuss it in front of so many people. Matt, especially, didn't want Tary hearing something bad like that. Already she seemed to have grown nervous and was watching them both nervously.

He stood from the table and motioned Ender closer. "Ender, take Tary and keep her company please." Ender did as he was bid, taking Tary's hand and leading her out of the cafeteria. It would be best if she wasn't present for whatever was going on. Matt, meanwhile, moved around the table and offered Adria his hand. "Come on, let's get out of here." Whatever was going on did not need to happen in the middle of the cafeteria.

Accepting his hand with her shaking one, she rose from the table and scooped up Honey and the last of her lunch; she was no longer hungry, and in fact felt sick, but Honey would still be hungry, she was sure. Honey was a young, growing little Pokémon. She burned energy very quickly.

She then started leading him away, going an alternate direction from where Ender and Tary had gone, and explaining that this was another way to go to the medical wing. She didn't want to run past Tary and Ender while explaining to Matt what was in the video (although very hesitantly) and how the message was sent to multiple people, and a bit ago. He had to be at the base by now.

And he was. Benn had gotten the message and had immediately grabbed the closest two people and dragged them both out of the base to go find Nathan. He didn't know where exactly Nathan was, but he knew that his friend was in a lot of trouble and needed help. He'd gone to fetch his dear friend and had hurried back. The moment he was freed, Nathan had passed right out, and remained that way even now with Benn working on him.

The brief description was more than enough for Matt to understand what had made Adria react the way she did. He could completely understand the feeling that she was going through, though his experience was probably a little different than hers. He didn't mention it right now, though, choosing instead to keep on the topic at hand. The video with the brand was horrific, to be certain, but Matt was just happy that Adria hadn't actually been present. That would have been far worse. Matt knew that from experience as well.

"Alex didn't kill him, though. That means he'll recover and get better." Right now, that was the best sentiment he could come up with. Until they saw the actual damage that Alex had inflicted, there was no telling just how Nathan would react. The brand, of course, would leave a scar in many different ways. That was something that might very well haunt Nathan for the rest of his life. It would certainly mar his body for the rest of his life, but at least it could be hidden beneath a shirt. Regardless, it wasn't pretty and it might affect him mentally, depending on how well he could recover.

It would be sure to scar him in more than one way. "I.. I know. But he's not been the subject of such torment before!" she exclaimed. "James never went after him and successfully caught him because he was normally away. I wasn't so safe. He's come multiple times, and each time it ended badly. Nathan, though, was never a physical victim to him. He's a proud person and refuses to do what he thinks would degrade him for the sake of a sadist like Alex," her face turned grim at the thought of what Alex had done to her and what she had done to him. She wanted him to feel the pain and went all out on him. There was no doubt he resisted at first, and for a woman like her, that was only an invitation to do more. "The first time is always the hardest, and for a proud person like Nathan, it's going to be really bad."

Matt frowned deeper as he thought about what Adria was saying. It was true in a lot of ways. He and Adria, and even Tary, had already been through torment and it didn't seem to scar as much after it had happened once or twice. It always hurt and it would always leave marks unseen, but it wasn't as hard as the first time. "Yeah... I understand that. But that's why you're here, isn't it?" He tried to smile at Adria and break some of the terrible tension that had overcome them. "You're his sister; you're here to help him get over that. You're here to help him through recovery," both physical and mental, Matt added silently to himself. "I'll even offer my help, if you need it." Though there wasn't much that Matt was sure he could do to help. Perhaps he could help because he had a little more knowledge of Alex than them, but the one thing he knew for certain was going to make neither Nathan nor Adria happy. Alex had marked Nathan. That meant she liked him. That meant she would try to get him again. It was a game.

Adria glanced to Matt and smiled, slowing in her quick walking pace a bit. He was right about her being there for him to help him. He was there when she had been injured for her first time by James, and was there when she was first attacked by Alex when she woke up. Now she'd be there for him. "Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, I'll be there for him. He was there when I woke up from the first time. It's... it's going to be very difficult for him to understand. He hates failure and refuses to fail. He was always at the top of his class and on his studies, and when he got anything below 100%, he'd be upset for the rest of the day. Failure isn't an option for him, but he failed this time to let Alex have her way over him. It'll be difficult, but you're right. And I thank you for offering your help, too." It meant a lot to her that he would offer his help.

"I don't think anyone can hold out on Alex forever. Certainly not when she breaks out the branding iron. That kind of thing can get anyone to break down." It had certainly worked on Matt and Tary; both of them had the marks to prove it. The mental scarring hadn't quite gone away for Matt, but Tary didn't clearly remember the whole ordeal. Matt was thankful for that small blessing. She had been too young at the time to fully grasp and remember what had happened. Matt, on the other hand, clearly remembered the feel of the searing metal being pressed into his skin and unconsciously raised a hand to rub at the mark over his shirt. "No shame in screaming in pain, even if Alex likes it. It's a natural reaction, something you can control when you're having a mark burned into you."

"I know," she commented, "but it'll be hard. He... he likes to think himself indestructible, for my sake. Even if I don't need it, he likes to be the tougher sibling." He'd have to understand that humans couldn't tolerate pain on that level without some hard-core training or unnaturally high resistance to it. "Is that just something big brothers do, Matt?" she asked him. "Try to be the tougher one for the sake of their younger brothers or sisters? It's a big brother thing, right?" She didn't understand boys nor did she understand the feeling of caring for a younger sibling and the pride of one.

The question made Matt smile. "Of course it is. You're the younger sibling, so I guess you don't feel it. It makes her feel better when she sees that I'm alright. Emotions are infectious, so if I'm upset or worried then she's upset or worried. Like earlier, at lunch. When she saw how worried we were, it made her worried. I prefer to put up a tough front around her because I think she takes comfort in something like that. After Alex turned on us, especially, it was important to make it seem like things were alright. Besides... I guess I like to seem strong to her because I want her to know that I'll be there to help her and protect her if she needs it. Because she's my sister and I love her."

A smile spread across her lips as she thought of the comparisons between Matt and her brother, and her father to his family. "I see. I understand what you're saying." She didn't know from experience, but she knew from example. "My brother likes to be tough. And my dad, too, over my mom. It reassures my mom when he's tough and is able to take a few hits for the family. And it reassures me when Nathan's there and being tough for me. If he's not scared, then why should I?" It all came together in her mind why brothers were like that. "I understand."

Matt smiled, glad that she was also smiling and figuring out just why her brother acted like he did. "Ever since we got here, to the Resistance I've been trying to avoid being so up-tight around Tary. It makes her think I'm stressed." Which he was, sometimes. Now that they were relatively safe, though, he wasn't as stressed. Tary was at his side and they were somewhere where Alex couldn't reach them. Alex could still reach other people, though. His thoughts turned back to Nathan. "You think Nathan's here in the Resistance now?" It had only been about 15 minutes, now, since Adria received the text. Had they found him so quickly?

Adria nodded her head. "Yeah. In the beginning, Nathan gave me Benn's number and a few other numbers of importance. The message that was sent contained multiple numbers including several I recognize and many others I don't. I don't know what exactly they do, or how they do it, but they can use his cell signal and get exact coordinates of where his message was sent from. From there, they should find him." There was still that off chance that Alex wouldn't have finished there and took him elsewhere from where his phone sent that message, but Adria didn't want to scare herself like that. She wanted to believe that he was there, and that Alex had finished after sending that message.

"Alright, so he would be somewhere in the medical wing, right? Would we be able to see him?" Even though Nathan would likely be somewhere in the medical area of the building, Matt doubted that they would be allowed to see him while he was being patched up. At least, that was how it was in regular hospitals. This was much different, so they might be able to pop by and see how he was doing. Hopefully it would help to put Adria at ease just a little bit. Matt would also like to see that Nathan was going to be alright. Alex had been his problem up until the Resistance had been notified about her existence and, because of his involvement with Adria, Matt had brought Alex into their lives. Now, because of that, Nathan had just been caught and tortured and Matt was feeling a little responsible.

"Yes," she confirmed. But even if this wasn't a traditional hospital, if the severity of his wounds were high enough they wouldn't allow anyone to see unless they were there to help with the immediate injury or if the patient specifically asked for someone to be there. But Nathan was proud and wanted no one to see him in the state he was in; broken fingers, nails that were chiseled right off, bruises on his body and the brand... he was well aware of it and only slightly able to guess its purpose. Regardless, it was all up to Benn if he wanted the girl to come in, though he knew what Nathan would say in objection. Nathan was her older brother and she looked up to him. He had to be tough and tell her it was nothing. He'd know she would see the lie, but in some strange way it would still help her to be reassured by her big brother.

Adria steered Matt into an elevator and clicked a button to go up. The lunch room was on the very bottom floor. "I think it's only fair..." she begun, "that I tell you what's James's reasoning since you told me Alex..." She felt a bit braver now, in the elevator, to tell Matt if he still wanted the answer.

The door of the elevator closed and trapped them in the small space. There would be no escaping from this conversation. The sudden change of topic was a little startling and it made Matt question why she had suddenly made up her mind to say something. "Does it matter?" Was it so important to know the motivation? Matt had talked about Alex because no one knew anything about her and they all needed more information on her if they stood a chance of catching her. If Adria wasn't comfortable sharing about James, that was fine. All Matt really needed to know about this man was how he liked to play and if he would come after them again. It seemed like James had teamed up with Alex to some extent, considering he had helped her nab Tary and provided an abandoned base for them to have some fun in.

Now they were in more private space and away from prying ears. Tary was no longer there to hear about the man who aided in her capture. "No," Adria admitted softly, "but now may be the best time, I guess. It's the two of us in here." Confiding to someone without being surrounded by people made Adria feel a bit better. "It looks like James teamed up with Alex and by that reason alone, he is targeting you and your sister. Normally, James sticks to one target family. Since I'm out in the open it's me on top of his list only because Nathan is usually here, and Mom's somewhere in another region. Our family is typically the only target because we are family by marriage and blood." She was trying to keep her explanations brief and quick for Matt. "I never knew my dad had an identical twin brother, and I think it's because of that fact that he pursues us; a personal connection with those he's never met before, and because of that combination he has no problem coming after us. He will come back for you and Tary, but he'll always let you off easy, and he only comes back if he's still partners with Alex since she is the only connection he has with you. Otherwise he tends to leave other people alone."

"Well..." Matt trailed off after her explanation, thinking everything over. "Now I've got two psychopaths after me. How fun." His tone was practically dripping sarcasm, but other than that he didn't seem to mind incredibly that there was another psycho out for blood and on his tail. Alex had been stalking them for quite some time, so this was no real change of pace. "I think Alex is worse than that, though..." He trailed off again, figuring that he might as well break some news to Adria while they were sharing stories again.

"Alex doesn't just like to come after me and Tary, though we are her favorites," he scowled at his own words, despising the way that they were true. "She goes after anyone that takes her fancy, with a bonus if they're somehow involved with us. She's... branded Nathan now." He hesitated on the word 'branded' because that was not exactly something he wanted to remind Adria. "That means she likes him and she'll keep coming after him. It's like a game to her, catching and the releasing her 'toys' so she can try to catch them again."

She flinched at the image from the message, of Nathan's new mark of favoritism. That would be a hard pill to swallow. "I can see she's a lot worse," James was similar, but he was far more lenient and nicer than Alex. The worst he did was send his Scizor out to attack. It was the Scizor who was worse than James. His Scizor reveled in the blood of its prey and loved staining the ground with red. To him, it almost seemed like it was a game of how much he could get his prey to bleed and not die. How many bruises could he inflict until they could no longer walk, or talk, or breathe, or see right? How many bones could he shatter until he grew bored? How loud could his victim scream, and how long?

Syler was worse than James. The most James did was trap the poor victim and taunt them, maybe shoot them if he wanted. But he rarely pulled out his gun and actually shot someone. James liked games. He liked to toy with people.

Alex, on the other hand... she was, well, creative, in one word. Alex was worse, and she knew that.

"She's going to come after him again when he steps out of the building." Nathan would have to leave eventually. He had a life outside the Resistance. He had a home and a family and when he stepped out, Alex would be waiting for him. "It's the same for me and Tary. No matter where we go, she seems to be able to find us." Matt had thought she had left for a while, but she caught up to him in Johto and then came back to Kanto to catch Tary while she was out on the open road. "Even if we were to part ways, Alex would keep coming after him."

Regardless of Nathan's connection to anyone, Alex had found a toy she liked. She had marked him as her own, much like she had done to Matt and Tary, and now he was hers. He belonged to her, though she was still willing to share with anyone that wanted in on her fun.

The door of the elevator slid open and Matt made to get out, assuming that they had reached their target floor. Unfortunately, the loss of his eye had left him a little depth perceptively challenged and he walked into the wall just next to the open door instead. He stumbled back a step, raising his hands to his face. "O-ow..."

Adria giggled a bit, grabbing Matt's wrist and helping him out of the elevator before the door slid shut and they had to travel back down or up to where the elevator was being summoned. She knew she shouldn't giggle at that, but it was amusing nonetheless, saying nothing more on the subject at hand.

The grim topic didn't make her feel better, even despite the moment of giggles, and it was clearly understandable why she wasn't pleased. But it seemed like there was nothing to be done of it now. Alex had gotten to Matt and Tary and Nathan and branded them all her favorites. There was really only one thing that could be done, and that was to catch her and prevent her from doing any more harm. Maybe then Tary would feel better about going on a journey and Matt would relax a bit more. They'd all be very happy if she were gone.

It would be better for everyone if they could catch Alex and put her behind bars. That might not hold her forever, though, and that was what made Matt nervous about the woman. She was shifty and crafty; she could escape stick situations if she needed to and had done so before. Just sticking her in jail might not solve their problem. It wasn't worth worrying about at this moment, though, because they were all safe in the Resistance. Right now they just needed to worry about recovering and helping someone as proud as Nathan come to terms with his injuries, his failure to avoid screaming, and his brand.

Matt followed her, still rubbing his nose slightly. He was going to have to get used to the lack of depth perception if he was going to avoid walking into any more walls. The giggle it coaxed out of Adria was worth the small amount of pain, though. The grim topic was not pleasant conversation and he didn't want to continue talking about the depressing issue. A smile graced his face as they continued walking. It was best to just put their minds off Alex and James for now.

* * *

Elsewhere in the base there was the small little blond boy wandering around to find a certain room with a certain someone, or so he hoped. Ender had told him to visit and befriend Tary, or at least put her to ease a bit with his presence, since they were both about the same age. It wasn't normal to see someone of their age around the base, so it was a treat to Sam if only the occasion was under better circumstances.

He remembered where the room was, though, and peeked in carefully, his Weedle curled up in his blond hair, scouting for movement in the room as well.

Ender had brought Tary back to the room she was sharing with Matt in the medical wing until they were cleared to leave. Whether they would be leaving the Resistance or just leaving the hospital wing was unclear, but they were there for now. Tary's Pokémon had been released about the room to stretch and relax. There were only five. Her Growlithe was curled up on her lap. A Charmeleon was arguing heatedly in the corner with a Flaafy. The Butterfree that Ender had mentioned was fluttering around the room, exploring a little bit. Lastly, there was a small Duskull, watching the argument between the fire type and electric type, endlessly amused with the two.

Ender was comically animated as he threw down a hand of cards. "You little cheater! That's not fair!" Tary just smiled at him, sweeping up his hand of cards and the hand she had previously set down. When Tary gave no indication of apologizing or otherwise changing how she was playing, Ender crossed his nonexistent arms and pouted.

Sam withdrew from the room and began to think to himself about how he could approach without setting off an alarm or suddenly startling the girl. He glanced up to seek advice from his little Weedle, only she wasn't on his head anymore and had instead crawled off and into the room at a fast pace (despite her stubby little legs) and up the side of the bed to greet the little girl and the pouting ghost Pokémon she'd seen earlier. "H-Hornet!" Sam hissed out from the door

Sam had his other Pokémon with him, but they were in their Pokéballs at the moment. Hornet was the only one that seemed to stay out of her Pokéball, but that was because she was his first Pokémon and loved the boy, and didn't like small areas when she could have been out and about.

All eyes were drawn to the boy in the doorway, including Tary and Ender. However, Tary's attention wasn't taken by Sam for very long. The Weedle that had crawled up her bedside was of more interest at the moment. The Butterfree in the room had also taken interest in the bug Pokémon and fluttered over to land on Tary's head. While many normal girls probably would have freaked out at the sight of a bug, Tary actually rather liked most bug Pokémon; Weedle was certainly no exception. It was still a strange Pokémon, though, so she was rather undecided in what she should do. Hesitantly, she offered her hand to the little thing, wondering what it would do.

Ender smiled over at Sam. "Hey there, Sam. Come on in. Her Pokémon won't bite." Well, maybe the two angry Pokémon arguing in the corner would, but there was no guarantee about that. The other ghost had disappeared and suddenly his voice was right in Sam's ear. /Ooooh, and who's this!?/

The Weedle sniffed the hand of the young girl, crooning happily and nuzzling into it lovingly. She squealed in glee as she got to meet this other young human, and looked up to see the Butterfree. She was very happy to meet new people and new Pokémon. Sam was shyer, but Hornet was more outgoing and willing to make friends, though, mostly because she was young.

Sam near jumped out of his skin with a startled 'eek!', jumping away from the source of the voice and running into the room to get away from it, whatever it was. It sounded like a Duskull, though, and he no longer saw the Duskull in the room. Sam was easily startled, a jumpy and shy boy who didn't appreciate being scared like so.

Tary smiled slightly at the cute noise that the Pokémon made. Now that they were away from all the strangers in the cafeteria, Tary was feeling a little more open and a little more relaxed. Tary's Butterfree climbed down off her head and down onto the bed to meet with the other Pokémon.

Ender halted Sam by placing gentle hands on his shoulders. They were cold, but not meant to scare or harm him in any way. "Haku!" he admonished, frowning at the Duskull in the doorway. Haku, for his part, looked a little sheepish. "That wasn't a very nice thing to do," Ender continued. While Ender was a ghost and prone to scaring people every once in a while, he took no joy in scaring kids, either intentionally or not. "Sorry, Sam. I think he was just excited."

Sam watched the ground for a moment before nodding to him. He figured the Duskull was a bit excited to meet someone else, or whatever it was he was excited for. But Sam wasn't into being scared by something jumping out or someone's voice drifting over to his ear. He disliked getting scared like that. "I-it's... It's alright, I guess," he admitted, glancing over to his little Weedle crooning and nuzzling into the girls hand and going to meet the Butterfree at the same time. Hornet liked other bug Pokémon very much. She enjoyed bug Pokémon and she was Sam's only bug Pokémon at the moment. It didn't matter since their home was nearby the forest, so she could go and visit the bugs outside if she wanted to.

Ender could still see how Sam was spooked and displeased and so snapped his fingers at the other ghost Pokémon. "Come here and apologize, will you?" Haku floated a little closer at the command from his elder and wrung his hands together under his too-big sleeves. /Sorry./ It was just a quiet, simple apology, but he meant it. He hadn't really meant to scare the little boy and felt bad now that he had.

Ender seemed content with the apology and turned Sam to face Tary instead. After that, he released the boy's shoulders from his gentle grip and nudged him forward with a soft touch on his back. "Sorry about that. Tary's looking rather relaxed, though. Give a conversation a shot."

The Butterfree gleefully greeted the other Bug Pokémon, crooning back and getting close to greet her.

Sam was hesitant, dropping his gaze back to the floor again, thinking of how he could greet Tary without being awkward, though it was already awkward for him. "Um..." he tried to think of something to say. Hello, I thought I'd drop by and meet you? It was more of a lie because it was his own initiative that convinced him to drop by, it sounded like. "Um... The Haunter told me I should drop by," he admitted, "a-and say hi, because we look to be around the same age, and it might make you, erm, more comfortable knowing someone your age is here..." His words were quick and quiet, but they were truthful. "S-so... hi."

Tary looked up when she heard Ender's suggestion to Sam. So it was Ender's fault that the nervous boy had ended up here. He seemed just as nervous as she did about being in the Resistance. This was going to be rather awkward, it seemed, but Tary was a little bit more at ease with someone closer to her own age. Everyone else around here was much older than her. Sam was still a little older than her, but not by too much. "H-hi..." She responded, stuttering nervously. Her free hand found her Growlithe and twined her fingers into his fur. It was comforting feeling to know that Waka was close-by. Sam bit his lip in silence, wondering what he could possibly say to her now. Sam wasn't all too good talking with people he didn't really know, but he was there to help her and help her feel a bit better for being at the Resistance. At least he knew why he was there, but what could he possibly talk about?

Maybe Pokémon. He liked Pokémon. And she liked Pokémon. Ender had said they had a common interest in Pokémon. And she had a lot of Pokémon with her. "You have... a few Pokémon with you. You're a trainer, right?" he asked.

The question seemed to come out of the blue, but it was a question that Tary didn't mind answering. "Yes." It was a simple answer for a simple question. Tary was a trainer and she enjoyed exploring. Up until Alex had come along, Tary had been having a relatively good time. She had caught her Pokémon and befriended them, before and after, and was taking the gym challenge. It was a difficult challenge, but something that she was interested in doing.

Of course, she said none of this out loud because it wasn't very interesting, honestly, and the whole thing had failed when James caught her. Until James and Alex were out of the way, Tary wouldn't be traveling.

She searched for some way to continue the conversation. The only thing she could come up with was, "You?"

Sam shook his head. "No, I'm no traveler. I'm not a trainer." He didn't have a single badge to his name, and he probably wouldn't have a badge to his name when he grew up. Being a child who could understand Pokémon, he loved his Pokémon and didn't want to pit his Pokémon in battles. He was against battling, though he didn't care what other people did with their lives. There were a few Pokémon he had who liked to battle, so they just sparred with the local Pokémon in the base that belonged to the agents. But Hornet certainly wasn't one of them. She liked to sit and eat Poffins and meet new people and Pokémon, and she enjoyed just lazing about in the sun.

Sam wouldn't be traveling any time soon unless it was on a mission somewhere, but Sam wasn't an agent. He wanted to be, though. He'd be one eventually. At that time, his Pokémon would have to be stronger if they were to go with him and complete missions with him. It wasn't battling, per say and Sam would be doing majority of the work, so Sam was more okay with it than battling. "But I have gone around with my dad to visit some places and befriended some Pokémon."

"Where?" Tary wasn't speaking much, but she was actively participating in the conversation to some extent. It seemed to be more than what she had been doing with Adria earlier. The cafeteria was too crowded for her tastes; there were too many strange adults in there and it had made her more uneasy. In this little room, it was just her, Sam, and her Pokémon.

Speaking of her Pokémon, the argument in the corner had broken off, for now. An orange head peeked over the side of the bed, glaring warily at Sam. The Charmeleon looked rather pissed at nothing in particular, but the irritation was radiating off of him and he was taking it out on Sam to an extent. He just clung to the bedside, arms on the top of the bed to keep himself up and his chin on the top of the bed. He glared. The Flaafy that he had been arguing with hopped up onto the bed and smoothed down his cotton coat. This Pokémon also leveled a wary glare at the little boy that had come to speak with their trainer. Both of the Pokémon looked rather unfriendly.

Sam shied away from both of the glaring Pokémon. It didn't take a Viridian Child to see their irritation and apparent anger towards him. Maybe his presence there was upsetting them. He was neither physically nor emotionally close to these two Pokémon, so he couldn't find out the answer; he also didn't want to. Sam shuffled his feet nervously, backing up a few paces. He wasn't comfortable with the two glaring Pokémon. The fact that one of them was a fire-type didn't help, either. Sam didn't particularly like fire, though it could have been because of his love for bug type Pokémon. "W-we..." he dropped his gaze again. "We went to Hoenn, then to Sinnoh for a bit... Sinnoh I met a Buneary. We stayed at an abandoned mansion known as the Forest Manor. A-and then we went to Johto and visited the Celebi's shrine..." Most of the places they went to were forested areas. Sam liked the forest most of all.

Forests were nice; Tary could certainly agree to that sentiment. Tary was picking up on his sudden nervousness – even she could see that he was being bothered by the two angry Pokémon – and so decided to do something about it. She turned to her Pokémon. "Allen. Scorch. Stop being mean."

Scorch, the Charmeleon, grumbled and disappeared behind the bed, leaving Sam alone. Allen, the Flaafy, just sort of turned his nose up and curled up next to Tary instead. Waka had been disturbed and looked up at the other human in the room curiously. In an instant, the curiosity had taken over and he was leaping out of the bed and trotting around Sam's feet to try getting his attention and love. The Butterfree had also picked up on how nervous Sam was and fluttered over to land on his head and get him to relax a little.

Sam appreciated Tary's note of his nervousness and getting the Pokémon to stop glaring at him. It had made him very uncomfortable to be glared at like that, making him feel very unwelcomed and like an intruder. He didn't like those kinds of feelings. He was a very self-aware boy and being glared at like so didn't help.

Waka caught his attention, then the Butterfree landed on his head. It made him smile a bit to see that there were some Pokémon in Tary's team that enjoyed company and didn't try to scare him away. He squatted down to give Waka some attention. He was impartial about fire-types, but he seemed to like Waka. He was used to fluffy fire types since his dad had a Flareon that liked to curl up at his feet at night or be his cuddle buddy. When he was young said Flareon would pounce on him and give him a bath to the best he could. Sam would always protest, but the fire-type was always stronger than him.

"U-uhm..." Sam thought for a moment. "Oh, and we also went to Canalave, and Iron Island," he continued, giving Waka love.

Now that Waka and the Butterfree weren't there, Hornet crawled up into Tary's lap to get more of her attention. "Dad likes to travel and take me places." Sam may not have been a trainer, but it was clear that he'd traveled far more than Tary, and perhaps further than Matt, too.

Waka leaped up onto his hind legs, bouncing in place and trying to lick Sam. He was just being generally friendly and it was quite adorable. The Butterfree was inspecting him from above, resting contentedly on his head. They were two of the more friendly Pokémon on Tary's team. Allen and Scorch were less friendly and more protective and angry. Haku, the last Pokémon on Tary's team, was sort of laid-back and constantly impartial about everything. Waka and the Butterfree were the only ones to almost constantly offer love and affection to everyone.

Tary, meanwhile, was giving Hornet a little more attention as she listened to Sam speak. "Sounds fun, getting to travel. I want to travel more." She'd never been out of the region, but she wanted to explore. There was no way she would be setting a foot outside while Alex was roaming around, though. She couldn't safely travel until the woman was caught, so she would be sticking close to her brother during that time.

Traveling to new places was really fun. Sam enjoyed his travels with his dad. "I hope you get to travel more. It's fun visiting places. My favorite place was Floroma Town in Sinnoh. Just past it is Valley Windworks, and there I caught a Buizel. Have you seen a Buizel before? They're, like, orange water weasels. They like to play in the water and splash people, and sometimes prank people," he explained, scooping up Waka and falling backwards into a nearby chair to sit down. He felt a little more at east, now, since the Butterfree was perched on his head and Waka was keeping some of his attention. "They're really cute, and they're fun to play with." Sam liked cute things. He loved anything that was cute.

Tary smiled in response, but shook her head. She had never seen a Buizel before, but they sure sounded cute. She had only seen the Pokémon that Matt had brought home from his travels and none of them were from Sinnoh. They were mostly from Kanto and Johto, with one from Hoenn thrown in. Tary's Pokémon were all from Kanto, except Allen and Haku. Allen had been a gift from Matt before she started her journey and Haku had been sorely misplaced. He must have been lost because Tary wasn't even sure that Duskull belonged in Kanto. Whatever the case, he was following her around, now, and seemed pretty friendly.

"Sounds cute." Tary liked cute Pokémon. It was hard not to like cute Pokémon.

Sam smiled, pulling out a Pokéball from his pocket and enlarged it. Clicking the release button, there was a bright flash that took the form of the very water weasel that he was talking about. The light disappeared almost immediately, and a Buizel was just sort of sitting there, confused. He didn't know what he was doing. Was he there to play? But this wasn't the forest or the ocean that he liked so much nor was it with bathroom with that tub he liked to swim in with his owner, Sammy. "Zelbui's really nice," Sam continued, "and he loves to play with others and meet people. He also likes to steal hats."

Zelbui loved hats. He didn't know why the Pokémon liked hats so much; he just liked stealing hats to provoke people to play.

A grin broke Tary's face at the sight of the adorable creature. Zelbui... he was absolutely adorable, even though he looked very confused. Waka was incredibly curious about this new Pokémon, temporarily distracted from Sam. He wanted to meet this new Pokémon. It was a Water Pokémon, but he didn't care. Zelbui looked like he would be fun to play with!

"I think he's adorable. Waka likes to play, too. Maybe they can play together," she suggested, watching Waka strain down from Sam's arms to try sniffing at the new Pokémon in the room.

The orange weasel stretched up and sniffed the wriggling fire puppy for a moment. He didn't recognize this Pokémon nor had he seen this Pokémon before. It was a Fire type, maybe, because it gave off a lot of heat. Was Sammy getting a new Pokémon? But he didn't like Fire Pokémon.

Sam smiled a bit wider, letting Waka out of his arms to go and play with Zelbui. Zelbui liked to run around and play, so he'd be more than willing to play with the small puppy Pokémon. Sam was happy that Zelbui was making friends. Making friends was fun.


End file.
